Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A special screening exercise for over 500 outstanding candidates out of 41,027 below the age of 16 seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session will be conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to an announcement made by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the screening will take place from September 22 to 26, 2025.
The decision was made following resolutions from a virtual meeting held on Wednesday, where it was also revealed that the exercise will be overseen by a special technical committee set up by JAMB.
Of the 41,027 underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), over 40,000 failed to meet the initial qualification criteria.
Oloyede disclosed that the screening is to ensure that only the most exceptional and adequately prepared underage candidates are considered for admission.
He said, “People have been doing it in other parts of the world. We are not reinventing the wheel.”