2025 UTME: JAMB screens 176 underage high achievers

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) connected Wednesday conducted a peculiar screening for 176 outstanding underage candidates who excelled successful the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The exercise, aimed astatine assessing exceptionally superb candidates beneath the property of 16 for imaginable admittance into tertiary institutions for the 2025/2026 world session, was held simultaneously successful Abuja, Owerri, and Lagos.

Chairman of the Abuja screening centre, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, expressed restitution with the creaseless behaviour of the exercise. He explained that the process progressive a written trial followed by aggregate valuation stages, including face-to-face interviews with the candidates.

“They wrote a insubstantial that lasted astir 20 minutes, aft which the scripts were marked instantly earlier proceeding to the 2nd and 3rd stages, which culminated successful idiosyncratic interactions,” said Adedoja, a erstwhile Minister of Sports and Youth Development.

He disclosed that 22 candidates participated astatine the Abuja centre, portion 176 candidates were screened nationwide. The results of the exercise, helium added, would beryllium released astatine the discretion of the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.

Chairman of the Senate Committee connected Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Mohammed Muntari Dandutse, who monitored the Abuja exercise, commended JAMB for providing a level for talented underage candidates to show their world potential.

“JAMB is giving these young talents an accidental to amusement their capableness for higher learning. It is important that they are decently assessed successful presumption of maturity and readiness, due to the fact that admitting unprepared underage students into universities would beryllium counterproductive,” Dandutse said.

The lawmaker, representing Katsina South Senatorial District, reaffirmed the National Assembly’s committedness to supporting President Bola Tinubu’s acquisition reforms and commended JAMB for its consistency, transparency, and nationwide coordination.

“I commend the JAMB enactment for ensuring that this introspection is conducted simultaneously crossed the country,” helium added.

Also speaking, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee connected Basic Examination Bodies, Hon. Oboku Oforji, lauded the show of the underage candidates, describing it arsenic a reflection of Nigeria’s increasing competitiveness successful education.

“For underage students to execute astatine specified a precocious level shows the advancement we are making successful the acquisition sector. We are arrogant of JAMB and promote them to prolong this level of excellence,” Oforji stated.

At the Owerri Centre, 38 retired of the 43 shortlisted candidates took portion successful the screening. The centre’s president and enforcement caput of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Paulinus Okwelle, commended the candidates for their orderly behaviour and assured that the process strictly adhered to JAMB’s guidelines.

He explained that candidates screened successful Owerri were drawn from the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones.

According to JAMB, a full of 41,027 candidates applied nether the “exceptionally superb underage” class successful the 2025 UTME. Of these, 599 scored 80 per cent and above, but immoderate were aboriginal disqualified for not gathering the aforesaid modular successful their O-Level oregon Post-UTME results, leaving 176 candidates for the last screening.

The screening sheet comprised representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), vice chancellors, and acquisition experts, including officials from the Gifted Education Programme.

The station 2025 UTME: JAMB screens 176 underage precocious achievers appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.