Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that 85 underage candidates (less than 16 by September 2025) are now qualified to seek admissions into various tertiary institutions of their choice.
Mr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesman, in a statement, explained that the cleared candidates are those who successfully completed the comprehensive screening process established by the board for exceptional admission.
He said the successful candidates have been duly notified to proceed to their respective institutions to complete the admission process and print their individual JAMB admission letters.
Mr. Benjamin said that the policy of exceptional admission is consistent with global best practices, where such cases are treated as rare exceptions rather than the norm.
Benjamin recalled that in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), of the 2,031,133 applicants, a total of 41,027 candidates sought consideration under the special category of which 599 candidates score the 80 per cent threshold in the UTME.
“The 599 candidates were subjected to further scrutiny of school certificate and Post-UTME 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.
“Meanwhile, any of the 182 finalist-candidates with valid reason to missed the final interview is advised to submit a formal request through the JAMB Support Ticketing System under the newly created 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, 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 within two (2) days (i.e. not later than Wednesday, 29th October, 2025) and notify the Board of such through the ticketing,” he said.
The Board stated 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.