The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Wednesday screened 176 exceptional underage candidates who excelled in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The screening, held simultaneously in Abuja, Owerri, and Lagos, was designed to identify outstanding candidates below the age of 16 who may be considered for admission into Nigerian universities for the 2025/2026 academic session.
At the Abuja centre, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, Chairman of the screening panel, expressed satisfaction with the smooth conduct of the exercise. He explained that the process involved a short written test followed by face-to-face interviews.
“Twenty-two candidates were screened here in Abuja, but nationwide the figure is 176. The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, will determine when the results will be released,” Adedoja said.
Sen. Mohammed Dandutse, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, praised JAMB for creating a platform for underage talents to prove their abilities. He stressed that assessing their maturity and readiness was crucial to national development.
Similarly, Hon. Oboku Oforji, Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, commended the candidates for their discipline and performance, noting that it reflected Nigeria’s growing educational competitiveness in Africa.
Although the official age for university admission is 18 years, the National Policy allows entry from age 16. For the 2025 UTME, 41,027 candidates applied under the underage exceptional category, but only 599 scored above 80 percent. After further verification of their O-Level and Post-UTME results, the list was trimmed to 176 final candidates.
The screening panel included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission (NUC), vice chancellors, and gifted schools.
