The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has stated that exceptional candidates under the age of 16 may receive waivers if they achieve an 80% score in four prescribed examinations.
JAMB’s Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this policy during a meeting with key stakeholders convened to prepare for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration exercise, review past performances, and address concerns regarding the upcoming exam.
During the discussion, Oloyede emphasized that the national minimum admissible age remains 16, meaning that any candidate below this age as of September 2025 would not be considered for admission.
The Registrar acknowledged that while the general minimum age is 16, gifted children should not be overlooked. He outlined the criteria for identifying such candidates.
“Now, the question is about identifying them. There are so many criteria we’ll look at if you’re under sixteen and you’re exceptional. First, your records should show that you’re exceptional.
If you take UTME, for instance, and you score 200 out of 400, how do you call yourself an exceptional candidate? But if you score 80%, that is giving us a signal that, ‘Oh, this person is really exceptional,” he said.
“They must be exceptional not through mere words but in all ramifications such that either in the UTME, WAEC, Post-UTME, or the GCE O/level, he must score at least 80%,” he added.
JAMB’s justification for age requirement
Oloyede defended the policy, stressing that age is linked to maturity and legal requirements. He argued that just as leadership roles have age limits, educational admissions must also consider age to ensure readiness.
“This is about complying with the law; age has a lot to do with maturity in terms of what you do. Age can’t be discarded. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be prescribing that before you can become a Local Government Chairman, you must have attained a certain age, or even a child of 5 or 10 years could aspire to that office.
“Biological age has a lot to do with the development of intelligence. There are so many things that have been said, but there are exceptions to the rule, and you must allow for such exceptions,” he said
Oloyede stressed that any exceptional candidate must demonstrate outstanding performance in multiple assessments.
Given that the total score in the UTME is 400 marks, 80% represents a minimum score of 320.
Private school underage admission
The Registrar also expressed concern about the trend of private universities admitting underage candidates, noting that many of them struggle academically and are later transferred to other programs.
“in most cases, 80 percent of their intakes end up being migrated to other programmes owing to poor standing,” he said
Additionally, Oloyede criticized the practice of parents altering their children’s ages for admission purposes and later adjusting them again for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.
“The Board is not unaware of these sharp practices that parents perpetrate to alter the age of their wards for the purpose of admission, and on graduation, they apply for a reduction of that same age to enable their wards undergo the one-year mandatory service of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).”
