By John Umeh
320 UTME Score Now Mandatory
In a significant policy shift aimed at upholding academic integrity and emotional preparedness, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has introduced stricter requirements for candidates under the age of 16 seeking admission into Nigerian universities.
The board has now mandated that only exceptionally gifted candidates below the age of 16 will be considered for admission—and only if they score a minimum of 320 in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). In addition to this benchmark, these students must also meet three other rigorous academic standards:
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At least 80% in the post-UTME screening,
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A minimum of 80% in a single sitting of either WAEC or NECO (equivalent to 24 out of 30 points), and
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Successful completion of a special admission interview.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, announced the revised criteria during a virtual meeting with university vice chancellors and heads of admissions. He emphasized that the board will no longer allow what he described as the “academic abuse” of admitting emotionally and psychologically unprepared children into Nigeria’s demanding university system.
To enforce the new policy, JAMB also inaugurated a 24-member screening committee chaired by Professor Oloyede himself. The committee has been tasked with assessing 599 underage candidates who met the 320 UTME cut-off, out of the over 38,000 underage applicants who applied for admission in 2025.
The updated policy is in line with the Federal Government’s position that the minimum age for university admission should remain 16 years, except in rare cases of extraordinary academic performance. Speaking at the 2025 JAMB policy meeting, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, stated that the policy aims to strike a balance between academic ability and cognitive maturity, and to discourage the rising number of underage candidates flooding tertiary institutions.
Further clarifying the policy, Professor Oloyede stated that result combinations from different examination bodies (e.g., WAEC and NECO) will not be accepted for underage candidates. For science-track students, mathematics must be one of their top subjects, while for those on the arts track, English is compulsory.
He also directed all institutions—regardless of their current post-UTME policy—to conduct special assessments for underage candidates before granting admission. This test will evaluate not only academic strength but also the justification for bypassing the age-16 requirement by the September 30 cutoff date.
Meanwhile, some universities have taken a firm stance against underage admissions altogether. Institutions such as the Air Force Institute of Technology (Kaduna), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (Bauchi), University of Jos, and Osun State University have reiterated that they will not admit any candidate below the official minimum age, regardless of academic performance.
The updated framework reflects JAMB’s growing commitment to raising educational standards and ensuring that students admitted into Nigerian universities are both academically qualified and developmentally ready.
