The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approved the admission of 85 underage candidates who underwent a special screening after achieving high scores in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Board announced the release of the results on Monday in a statement issued by its Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin.
According to JAMB, the screening for the selected candidates took place on October 8.
The special screening exercise, aimed at ensuring that only exceptional and adequately prepared candidates below the age of 16 are granted admission into higher institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session, was carried out by a panel of experts assembled by the Board.
The panel comprised representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), vice-chancellors, the Gifted School, and other relevant stakeholders.
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.
“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 certificates 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 advised the remaining 182 candidates, who reached the final stage but were unable to attend the concluding interview for valid reasons, to submit an official request through its Support Ticketing System under the newly introduced 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 have 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.
It should be recalled that in Nigeria, the official minimum age for university admission is 18, although the National Policy allows admission from age 16.
A total of 41,027 candidates applied under the category of exceptionally gifted underage candidates for the 2025 UTME, but only 599 attained scores of 80 per cent or above.
Several of these candidates were later disqualified for not meeting the required benchmarks in their O-Level or Post-UTME results, leaving only 176 eligible for the final assessment stage.
