The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has cleared 85 underage candidates who participated in a special screening after scoring high marks in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for admission.
The board announced the release of the results on Monday in a statement by its Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin.
The screening for the special candidates was conducted on October 8, by JAMB.
The screening exercise, designed to ensure that only outstanding and well-prepared candidates below the age of 16 are considered for admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session, was conducted by experts put together by the JAMB.
The panel members were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission (NUC), Vice – Chancellors, the Gifted School, among others.
The statement reads: “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of 85 underage candidates (less than 16 by September, 2025) who successfully completed the comprehensive screening process established by the Board for exceptional admission.
”After meticulous evaluation, 85 candidates who are adjudged to be qualified have been duly notified to proceed to their respective institutions to complete the admission process and print their individual JAMB admission letters.
”This policy of exceptional admission is consistent with global best practices, where such cases are treated as rare exceptions rather than the norm.
Issues Around JAMB Underage Screening
”It is to be noted that in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), of the 2,031,133 applicants, a total of 41,027 candidates sought consideration under this special category of which 599 scored the 80% threshold in the UTME. These 599 were subjected to further scrutiny of school certificate and PUTME screening, which led to the emergence of 182 candidates (178+4). After due verification, interviews, and screening, 85 candidates were found to have met the criteria and have consequently been cleared for admission.”
The board also admonished 182 finalist-candidates who had a valid reason for missing the final interview to submit a formal request through its Support Ticketing System under the newly created category titled “2025 Underage Complaint.”
”Such complaints will be reviewed individually, and decisions will be made strictly on their own merit. This window is for only the 182 finalists who might for one reason or the other missed the final interview.
”In addition, candidates who score 320 and above in UTME but failed to upload O-Level results and were subsequently disqualified from proceeding are now given a change to upload with two (2) days (i.e. not later than Wednesday, 29th October, 2025) and notify the Board of such through the ticketing.
”The Board reiterates its commitment to ensuring that the admission process remains credible, transparent, and inclusive, while also maintaining the integrity of academic standards across all tiers of tertiary education in Nigeria,” the statement added.
Recall that in Nigeria, the official age for university admission is 18, though the National Policy allows entry from age 16.
A total of 41,027 candidates applied under the category of exceptionally brilliant underage candidates for the 2025 UTME, but only 599 scored 80 percent and above.
Some were later disqualified for not meeting the same benchmark in their O-Level or Post-UTME results, leaving only 176 confirmed for final assessment.
