- The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board now allows exceptionally gifted students below 16 to register for UTME
- JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, revealed that children as young as 10, 11, and 12 have been registered, often due to parents falsifying their ages
- Oloyede criticised parents who increase their children’s ages through affidavits to gain early admission
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has introduced a special provision allowing “exceptional” students below the age of 16 to register for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The development was disclosed by the board’s Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme on Channels Television.
Oloyede emphasised that while JAMB maintains the 16-year minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions, the board recognises that some rare, highly gifted students may be academically ready before reaching this age.
To accommodate such cases, JAMB has opened the Exceptionally Brilliant Window, enabling these students to take the UTME.
“In Nigeria, we have many brilliant students. We are enforcing the 16-year minimum entry age, but we also acknowledge that there are exceptional students, though they are just one in a million,” Oloyede stated. “If you believe you are exceptional and under 16, you can register under the exceptional candidacy category.”
However, the JAMB registrar expressed concern over the increasing trend of parents manipulating their children's ages to gain early admission into tertiary institutions.
He cited instances where students as young as 10, 11, and 12 were being registered for the UTME, often through falsified age documents.
“I’m surprised that just within a few days, over 2,000 students below 16 have registered nationwide. Some of them are 10, 11, and 12 years old, and their parents have found ways to jump academic levels unnaturally,” he said. “Parents are inflating their children’s ages with affidavits just to fast-track their education, sometimes for personal prestige.”
The development follows a policy shift in November 2024, when the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced a reversal of the 18-year minimum admission benchmark, reinstating 16 years as the standard age for entry into tertiary institutions.
“We will no longer enforce the 18-year benchmark. The standard age for admission remains 16 years, with exceptions for gifted students,” Alausa stated.
Previously, in July 2024, the former Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, introduced a policy barring candidates under 18 from gaining admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions, a decision that has now been overturned.
“Misplaced priority”: Nigerians react as FG bans admission for under-18 candidates
Meanwhile, in an earlier report, TheRadar gathered reactions from Nigerians as the federal government announced a ban on admission for underaged candidates into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Stakeholders protested against the ban, and the minister agreed that the ban would be enforced in 2025. Nigerians believed it was an effort by the government to frustrate citizens further.