JAMB to screen 500 exceptional underage UTME candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has scheduled September 22–26, 2025, for the screening of over 500 outstanding candidates below the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session.

According to resolutions from a virtual meeting held on Wednesday, the exercise will be conducted by a special technical committee in three centres: Lagos, Abuja, and Owerri. Lagos will host 397 candidates, Owerri 136, and Abuja 66.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said the screening aims to ensure only exceptional and well-prepared underage candidates are admitted.

“People have been doing it in other parts of the world. We are not reinventing the wheel,” he noted.

More than 40,000 of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME failed to meet the first selection benchmark. Of the 1.955 million candidates nationwide, 599 scored above 300 but fell below the minimum admission age of 16, prompting the creation of the special screening process.

The subcommittee, led by Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, revealed that the assessment will include subject-specific tests and an oral interview.

JAMB will also obtain results from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to verify the eligibility of some shortlisted candidates.

The screening criteria target only candidates who scored at least 320 (80%) in UTME, achieve 80% in post-UTME, and secure a minimum of 80% (24/30 points) in a single sitting of WAEC or NECO.

Participants at the meeting included heads of tertiary institutions, government agencies, civil society groups, members of the Nigerian Academy of Education, and the principal of Federal Government Gifted Academy, Suleja.

The initiative is designed to confirm that underage candidates admitted are mentally and psychologically prepared for the rigours of higher education.