The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will this month screen more than 500 exceptional candidates below the age of 16 who are seeking admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic year.
The screening exercise, scheduled for 22–26 September, will be conducted by a special technical committee set up by the board following resolutions reached at a virtual meeting on Wednesday.
According to the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, three centres have been designated for the exercise: Lagos, with 397 candidates; Owerri, with 136; and Abuja, with 66.
He explained that out of 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), over 40,000 did not meet the qualifying criteria. The planned screening, he said, is designed to ensure that only genuinely outstanding and academically ready candidates are considered for admadmission.
“People have been doing it in other parts of the world. We are not reinventing the wheel,” Oloyede noted.
A subcommittee chaired by Prof. Taoheed Adedoja revealed that the assessment will involve subject-specific tests and brief oral interviews. In addition, the committee will request results from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to confirm the eligibility of some shortlisted candidates.
The virtual meeting had in attendance representatives from higher institutions, relevant government agencies, civil society groups, the Nigerian Academy of Education, and the Federal Government Gifted Academy, Suleja.
Data from JAMB shows that out of the 1.955 million UTME candidates this year, 599 scored above 300 but were younger than the 16-year minimum entry age set by the Federal Ministry of Education. This prompted the board to develop the special screening to strike a balance between academic brilliance and cognitive maturity, discourage age falsification, and shield young learners from excessive parental pressure.
Four universities including the Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; University of Jos; and Osun State University have already declared that they will not admit candidates below the approved age limit.
Only candidates who meet stringent academic thresholds, including a minimum UTME score of 320 (80%), at least 80% in post-UTME, and 24 out of 30 points in a single sitting of WAEC or NECO will be considered for final admission approval.
