The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has reaffirmed its minimum age requirement of 16 years for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions but has introduced a special provision for exceptionally brilliant students below 16 to register for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

JAMB’s Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this disclosure on Channels Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Sunday, February 2025. He emphasized that while the age restriction remains in place, an exception has been created for rare cases of exceptional academic talent.

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Why the Exception for Under-16 Candidates?

Oloyede acknowledged the presence of highly gifted students in Nigeria, stating that such candidates are extremely rare:

“In Nigeria, there are many brilliant students, we have so many excellent people. We are enforcing the 16-year minimum entry into tertiary institutions, but some people are saying there are exceptional students. Yes, there are exceptional students, but they are just one in a million.

“We are saying 16 years is the minimum, but if you know you are exceptional, register for exceptional candidacy—that is, you are less than 16 years old and exceptional.”

This Exceptionally Brilliant Window allows academically outstanding students who genuinely demonstrate exceptional intelligence to participate in UTME without waiting until 16.

Concerns Over Manipulation of Age

While recognizing true academic brilliance, JAMB has expressed serious concerns over the rampant misuse of the under-16 exception by some parents.

Oloyede strongly condemned the rising trend of age falsification, where parents manipulate documents to push their children through the education system at an unnaturally fast rate.

“I’m surprised. Just from Monday to now, over 2,000 candidates across the country have registered as ‘exceptionally brilliant.’ Some of them are 10, 11, and 12 years old, whose parents have found crooked ways of jumping classes.

“Normal children cannot grow at a rate higher than their biological age. What parents are now doing is increasing the age of their children. They are doing everything—affidavit of age, falsifying records—just to push them forward.

“The parents want to use the children to decorate their CVs. They want to say, ‘I am the mother of a lawyer, my child graduated at age 13.’”

JAMB has warned that strict verification will be enforced to ensure that only truly gifted students benefit from the Exceptionally Brilliant Window.

Age Requirement Policy Changes Over Time

The minimum age for tertiary education in Nigeria has been a subject of policy shifts in recent years.

July 2024: The former Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced a ban on admitting candidates below 18 years old into universities.
November 2024: The new Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, reversed this decision, lowering the minimum age back to 16 years.
February 2025: JAMB now allows exceptional under-16 candidates to register for UTME through the Exceptionally Brilliant Window.

“We will not be going forward with the 18-year admission benchmark. We will go with 16 years and will meet with JAMB and other stakeholders on this.

“There will also be exceptions for gifted students, so 18 years is no longer part of our policy,” Alausa confirmed.

JAMB’s Stand on Fair Admission Processes

JAMB has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring fairness and transparency in Nigeria’s admission process. While the exception for brilliant under-16 students is a recognition of academic excellence, the Board has warned that any attempt to exploit this provision through fraudulent means will not be tolerated.

JAMB encourages parents to allow natural academic progression, ensuring that children receive proper foundational education before moving on to tertiary institutions.

For more information on JAMB, visit the official JAMB website here.

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