By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Wednesday conducted a special screening for 176 outstanding underage candidates who excelled in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The exercise, aimed at assessing exceptionally brilliant candidates below the age of 16 for possible admission into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 academic session, was held simultaneously in Abuja, Owerri, and Lagos.
Chairman of the Abuja screening centre, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, expressed satisfaction with the smooth conduct of the exercise. He explained that the process involved a written test followed by multiple evaluation stages, including face-to-face interviews with the candidates.
“They wrote a paper that lasted about 20 minutes, after which the scripts were marked immediately before proceeding to the second and third stages, which culminated in personal interactions,” said Adedoja, a former Minister of Sports and Youth Development.
He disclosed that 22 candidates participated at the Abuja centre, while 176 candidates were screened nationwide. The results of the exercise, he added, would be released at the discretion of the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Mohammed Muntari Dandutse, who monitored the Abuja exercise, commended JAMB for providing a platform for talented underage candidates to demonstrate their academic potential.
“JAMB is giving these young talents an opportunity to show their capacity for higher learning. It is important that they are properly assessed in terms of maturity and readiness, because admitting unprepared underage students into universities would be counterproductive,” Dandutse said.
The lawmaker, representing Katsina South Senatorial District, reaffirmed the National Assembly’s commitment to supporting President Bola Tinubu’s education reforms and commended JAMB for its consistency, transparency, and nationwide coordination.
“I commend the JAMB leadership for ensuring that this examination is conducted simultaneously across the country,” he added.
Also speaking, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, Hon. Oboku Oforji, lauded the performance of the underage candidates, describing it as a reflection of Nigeria’s growing competitiveness in education.
“For underage students to perform at such a high level shows the progress we are making in the education sector. We are proud of JAMB and encourage them to sustain this level of excellence,” Oforji stated.
At the Owerri Centre, 38 out of the 43 shortlisted candidates took part in the screening. The centre’s chairman and executive secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Paulinus Okwelle, commended the candidates for their orderly conduct and assured that the process strictly adhered to JAMB’s guidelines.
He explained that candidates screened in Owerri were drawn from the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones.
According to JAMB, a total of 41,027 candidates applied under the “exceptionally brilliant underage” category in the 2025 UTME. Of these, 599 scored 80 per cent and above, but some were later disqualified for not meeting the same standard in their O-Level or Post-UTME results, leaving 176 candidates for the final screening.
The screening panel comprised representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), vice chancellors, and education experts, including officials from the Gifted Education Programme.
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