A MAJOR policy shift by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has reignited debates about Nigeria’s education system, as the exam body now allows candidates under the age of 16 to gain admission into tertiary institutions—provided they score at least 80 per cent (320 out of 400) in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Explainer gathered that this decision follows the recent reversal of the 18-year admission age benchmark introduced by former Education Minister Tahir Mamman. The current Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa, reinstated the 16-year minimum age, a move widely welcomed by education stakeholders. However, JAMB has taken it a step further by making room for exceptional students who do not meet the age requirement but demonstrate extraordinary academic ability.
How Many Students Will Benefit? The Numbers Behind the Policy
The Explainer analysed UTME performance data from previous years to assess the potential impact of this new policy. In the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), a total of 8,401 candidates, representing 0.5% of the 1,842,464 who sat for the exam, scored 300 and above. Given that the new threshold for under-16 candidates is 320, the number of students eligible under this category is expected to be even smaller.
Education experts argue that while the policy is a win for academically gifted children, it will only apply to a tiny fraction of students.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, defended the policy during a meeting with key stakeholders, including Chief External Examiners, Chief Technical Advisors, and members of the Equal Opportunity Group.
“This is about complying with the law. Age plays a crucial role in maturity and academic development. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have age limits for leadership positions such as local government chairman. Biological age is linked to intellectual growth, and while rules exist, there must be room for exceptions,” he stated in a transcript published in JAMB’s bulletin.
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He emphasised that under-16 candidates must demonstrate outstanding performance across multiple assessments, including the UTME, WASSCE, Post-UTME, and GCE O/Level.
“If a candidate under 16 scores 200 out of 400 in the UTME, can they truly be considered exceptional? However, if they achieve 80% (320/400), that signals exceptional ability and warrants consideration,” he added.
The Private University Loophole and Academic Struggles of Underage Students
Despite the excitement around this new policy, The Explainer gathered that JAMB remains cautious about private universities that admit underage candidates without strict academic benchmarks. Oloyede revealed that many of these students struggle to cope with university-level education, with up to 80 per cent eventually transferring to other programmes due to poor performance.
A study titled “Survival Analysis of Students’ Dropout in a Nigerian University System” reported dropout rates of 41.42% for male students and 38.94% for female students. The study suggests that factors such as academic performance and possibly emotional and psychological maturity contribute to these dropout rates.
The Explainer also notes that a major issue in the Nigerian education system is the manipulation of birth records. Some parents push their children into early university admission but later attempt to alter their ages to qualify for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
JAMB has repeatedly warned against this practice, and with the new policy, scrutiny on age declarations is expected to increase. Oloyede made it clear that “we must not allow parents to game the system by falsifying birth certificates for early admission and then later changing their children’s age to qualify for NYSC.”
As part of efforts to ensure that only truly exceptional students are admitted under this policy, JAMB has introduced a mock UTME for underage candidates. The Explainer gathered that this is not intended as a direct admission pathway but rather as a tool to assess whether younger candidates have the academic capability to handle university-level education.
Oloyede announced in Lagos that the 2025 UTME registration period runs from 31st January to 5th March, with a mock exam scheduled for 23rd February and the main UTME set for 8th March.
