…of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, more than 40,000 did not meet the initial qualification – JAMB.
ABUJA, NIGERIA – The iNews Times | The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will conduct a special screening for 500 exceptional underage candidates who are seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The exercise, scheduled for September 22 to 26, 2025, will be supervised by a special technical committee established by the board, JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede announced on Wednesday.
The decision follows a virtual meeting where it was revealed that of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), more than 40,000 did not meet the initial qualification standards.
Oloyede explained that the screening will identify only the most academically outstanding and adequately prepared young candidates for possible admission.
“People have been doing it in other parts of the world. We are not reinventing the wheel,” he said, noting that the process aligns with global best practices for nurturing exceptionally gifted students.
The move is expected to spark debate over early admission policies in Nigeria’s tertiary education system, with the board insisting that only candidates who meet the highest standards will benefit from the initiative.
