THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that it will screen over 500 exceptional candidates under the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The screening is scheduled to hold from September 22 to 26 across three centres in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who gave details of the screening arrangements during a virtual meeting on Wednesday, August 13, said Lagos would host 397 candidates, Owerri 136, and Abuja 66, adding that out of 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, only a small number met the initial qualification criteria.
He said the screening was aimed at selecting only well-prepared and truly exceptional candidates, saying: “People have been doing it in other parts of the world; we are not reinventing the wheel.”
A member of the subcommittee, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, explained that the assessment would involve subject-specific tests, followed by a brief oral interview, noting that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) result verification would be conducted for shortlisted candidates.
JAMB said the initiative seeks to balance academic excellence with cognitive maturity, discourage age falsification and protect children from excessive parental pressure.
Only candidates who score 320 and above in UTME, 80 per cent in post-UTME and 80 per cent (24/30 points) in a single WAEC or NECO sitting will be considered.
This follows concerns over the 599 candidates who scored above 300 in the 2025 UTME, but fell below the official minimum admission age of 16; hence the formation of the screening committee.
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