JAMB grants admission to 85 underage but exceptional candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approved the admission of 85 candidates who were under 16 years old by September 2025.

The board, in a statement on Monday, said the admissions followed a rigorous screening process for “exceptional” candidates.

The candidates have been notified and instructed to proceed to their respective institutions to complete the admission process and print their JAMB admission letters.

Fabian Benjamin, spokesperson for JAMB, said the policy is consistent with global best practices, where such cases are treated as rare exceptions rather than the norm.

Out of the 2,031,133 applicants for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), a total of 41,027 candidates sought consideration under this special category.

Of this number, 599 scored the required 80 per cent threshold in the UTME.

These 599 were then subjected to further scrutiny of their school certificates and post-UTME screening, which resulted in a shortlist of 182 candidates.

“After due verification, interviews, and screening, 85 candidates were found to have met the criteria and have consequently been cleared for admission,” Benjamin said.

JAMB has created a window for the remaining 182 finalist-candidates who may have missed the final interview for a valid reason.

They are advised to submit a formal request through the JAMB support ticketing system under a newly created category, “2025 underage complaint.”

The board also announced a two-day grace period for candidates who scored 320 and above in the UTME but were previously disqualified for failing to upload their O-level results.

These candidates now have until October 29 to upload their results and notify the board through the ticketing system.