The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has introduced an Exceptional Candidacy window, allowing students below 16 years old to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), provided they demonstrate outstanding academic abilities.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program on Channels Television. He emphasized that while the general minimum entry age for tertiary institutions remains 16 years, a special provision has been made for exceptionally brilliant students.
“In Nigeria, we have many brilliant students. We are enforcing the 16-year minimum entry requirement, but some people argue that there are exceptional students. Yes, but they are just one in a million,” Oloyede stated.
He further explained that students who believe they qualify can register under this special category. Surprisingly, within a week of opening the window, over 2,000 candidates—some as young as 10, 11, and 12 years old—have already applied.
Prof. Oloyede also raised concerns about parents manipulating their children’s ages to fast-track their academic progression.
“Normal children cannot grow at a rate higher than their biological age. What parents are now doing is increasing their children’s ages through affidavits and other means just to boost their CVs. They want to say, ‘I am the mother of a lawyer, my child graduated at age 13.’”
The move is expected to regulate the entry of underage students into Nigerian universities while ensuring only truly exceptional candidates are given the opportunity.
