Nigeria’s education sector has witnessed a landmark moment after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board convened the country’s first national stakeholder engagement on underage students in Tertiary Institutions, with stakeholders revealing that 96 candidates below the age of 16 secured university places for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The forum, held on Tuesday in Abuja under the auspices of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), attracted 283 participants, including Vice Chancellors, parents, child development specialists, legal authorities and the underage students themselves. The theme was “Achieving Success in Higher Education of Underage Students Admitted in the 2025/2026 Session.”
Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, who chairs JEOG and serves as President of Global University for Innovation (GUNi Africa), told journalists that no higher education system in the world had established a national support framework for gifted underage students comparable to what JAMB Registrar Professor Ishaq Oloyede had introduced.
To gain admission, each of the 96 students was required to score at least 320 in the UTME, achieve a minimum of 80% in post UTME examinations, record at least 80% in the Senior School Certificate Examination and attain 80% in an independent expert assessment interview.
JAMB Registrar Oloyede maintained that the admissions were “neither accidental nor sentimental,” linking the age policy to the 1981 National Policy on Education, which was designed to ensure that University entry aligns with both cognitive and emotional development. He added that universities such as the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan strictly uphold the 16 year minimum admission age regardless of a candidate’s academic record.
Okebukola announced that each of the 96 students had been assigned a dedicated mentor, with institutions, parents, counsellors and administrators expected to play active roles in supporting their progress. “Our task today is to ensure that precocity is met not with neglect or indifference, but with wisdom, structure and genuine love for the young,” he remarked.
Three technical sessions formed the backbone of the engagement, covering pedagogy, psychology and legal frameworks. Presentations in the first session were delivered by Professor Uchenna Maristella Nzewi of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Foluso Okebukola of Lagos State University and Professor Grace Eno Nta of the University of Calabar. The second session, moderated by Professor Gaji Fatima Dantata of Bayero University Kano, addressed emotional adjustment, stress management and counselling models for underage students navigating University life.
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