Over 41,000 Underage Candidates Register for 2025 UTME Despite Age Policy
A total of 41,027 underage candidates were among the 2.03 million who registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), according to real-time data obtained from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) registration dashboard on Tuesday.
The revelation comes amid renewed emphasis on the 16-year minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions, reaffirmed recently by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa. He stated that while candidates below the age of 16 are generally ineligible, exceptions may be granted to exceptionally gifted students.
JAMB has clarified that such exceptions would require underage candidates to score at least 80% in the UTME—equivalent to 320 out of 400 marks—to be considered for admission.
This revised policy marks a shift from the previously proposed 18-year benchmark by former Education Minister Prof. Tahir Mamman, with the return to age 16 earning broad support from education stakeholders.
Speaking at a recent meeting with key officials, including Chief External Examiners and members of the Equal Opportunity Group, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, stressed that the minimum age requirement stands, and any deviations will be subjected to strict scrutiny and exceptional academic performance.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education has directed that both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) must transition to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for all objective papers by November 2025.
He added that by the May/June 2026 examination cycle, the objective and essay sections of both WAEC and NECO exams should be fully CBT-compliant, a move aimed at curbing widespread examination malpractice.
As of Monday, 62 cases of malpractice had already been recorded in the ongoing 2025 UTME.