The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has announced that exceptionally gifted children under the age of 16 will be permitted to take the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), provided they meet certain criteria.
According to Oloyede, these gifted candidates must score at least 80% in one of the following exams: UTME, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), General Certificate of Education (GCE), or O’level exams.
“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,” Oloyede explained during a meeting with critical stakeholders.
However, Oloyede clarified that exceptions would be made for gifted children who show exceptional academic prowess.
“We are aware that there are gifted children and they are few. These gifted children can’t be dismissed like that. We will have to identify them and allow them to take the exam,” he stated.
He also pointed out that the national minimum admissible age for tertiary institutions is 16, meaning that candidates below this age as of September 2025 will not be eligible for admission.
He emphasized, “Biological age has a lot to do with the development of the intelligence. There are so many things that have been said, but there are exceptions to the rule, and you must allow for such exceptions.”
Oloyede expressed concerns over underage admissions in private universities, stating that many such students later struggle and are migrated to other programs.
He also mentioned the issue of parents who alter their children’s ages for admission purposes and to later reduce their age for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.
In a positive development, JAMB will continue offering free UTME forms for candidates with disabilities who meet the criteria of having at least five O’level credits.
This initiative, which began last year, has significantly reduced financial barriers and improved access to tertiary education for these candidates.
“To forestall the incidence of impersonators, the Board has directed that candidates with disabilities would buy their application documents like other candidates, and on the day of examination, after their verification and authentication, such candidates would be refunded their application fees,” the bulletin added.
The Board also introduced measures for candidates with biometric challenges. Candidates with issues related to their fingerprints or facial recognition scans during registration will only be able to register at JAMB’s National Headquarters in Abuja.
The Board confirmed, “No candidate will be allowed to enter the examination hall or have his examination processed if his biometrics are not verified.”
Oloyede assured that the board would facilitate travel arrangements for these candidates and ensure they are accommodated on the last day of the examination calendar.
