The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of 85 underage candidates who successfully completed the comprehensive screening process for exceptional admission into tertiary institutions.

According to the Board, the successful underage candidates were less than 16 years old by September 2025, adding that 85 underage candidates were cleared out of 182 finalists.

In a statement, yesterday, by its Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB said the 85 candidates, all younger than 16 years of age as of September 2025, were found qualified after a rigorous, multi-stage evaluation process.

“After meticulous evaluation, 85 candidates who are adjudged to be qualified have been duly notified to proceed to their respective institutions to complete the admission process and print their individual JAMB admission letters.

“This policy of exceptional admission is consistent with global best practices, where such cases are treated as rare exceptions rather than the norm.

“Out of the 2,031,133 applicants, a total of 41,027 candidates sought consideration under this special category, of which 599 scored the 80 per cent threshold in the UTME.

“These 599 candidates were subjected to further scrutiny of school certificate and PUTME screening, which led to the emergence of 182 candidates (178+4).

“After due verification, interviews, and screening, 85 candidates were found to have met the criteria and have consequently been cleared for admission,” the statement read.

JAMB also advised that any of the 182 underage finalist-candidates who, for valid reasons, missed the final interview should submit a formal request through its support ticketing system, https://support.jamb.gov.ng, under the newly created category titled ‘2025 Underage Complaint.’

“Such complaints will be reviewed individually, and decisions will be made strictly on their own merits. This window is exclusively for only the 182 finalists who might, for one reason or the other missed the final interview,” it stated.

The statement added that “candidates who score 320 and above in UTME but failed to upload O-Level results and were subsequently disqualified from proceeding are now given a chance to upload within two days (i.e. not later than Wednesday, October 29, 2025) and notify the Board of such through the ticketing platform.”

The Board, therefore, reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining transparency, inclusiveness, and academic integrity across all tiers of tertiary education in Nigeria.