JAMB reveals big decision on 85 underage candidates

By Paul Dada

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has granted admission approval to 85 candidates who will be under the age of 16 by September 2025.

JAMB says the decision follows an extensive vetting exercise conducted under the board’s exceptional admission policy.

According to a statement issued by its Public Communication Adviser, Dr Fabian Benjamin, the Board explained that the candidates were carefully screened and confirmed eligible before being authorised to proceed with the admission process.

The statement says each successful applicant has been instructed to finalise registration at their chosen institutions and print their official JAMB admission letters.

According to the board, the exceptional admission scheme is consistent with international academic standards, where underage admissions are regarded as rare exceptions rather than standard practice.

JAMB reveals that out of the 2,031,133 candidates who registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), 41,027 sought special consideration under the underage category. It says following initial assessments, 599 of them, who achieved at least 80 per cent in the UTME, underwent further scrutiny involving verification of their academic records and post-UTME scores.

According to JAMB, subsequently, 182 candidates were shortlisted for the final stage, which included interviews and documentation checks. At the conclusion of the review, 85 were adjudged to have met all the stipulated requirements and were therefore cleared for admission.

JAMB says any of the shortlisted candidates who missed their final interview for justifiable reasons can  submit an appeal through the JAMB Support Ticketing System, selecting the category “2025 Underage Complaint”.