The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed that exceptionally talented students under the age of 16 can now register for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) through a special provision called the Exceptionally Brilliant Window.

He explained that while JAMB maintains 16 as the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions, the board has made an exception for outstanding students due to the presence of rare academic prodigies.

Speaking as a guest on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, Oloyede, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, emphasized the rationale behind this decision.

“Nigeria has many brilliant students, and we recognize that some are exceptionally gifted. While the general minimum age for tertiary education remains 16, we acknowledge that a few rare cases exist. These exceptional students—who are truly one in a million—now have the opportunity to register under the exceptional candidacy category if they are below 16,” he stated.

Oloyede also criticized the growing trend of parents falsifying their children’s ages to accelerate their academic progress.

He cited instances where students as young as 10 to 12 years old had been registered for the UTME.

“I am surprised that, just from Monday to now, over 2,000 candidates have registered across the country. Many of them are 10, 11, or 12 years old, with parents who have manipulated the system to push them ahead unnaturally.

“Normal biological growth does not allow children to mature beyond their actual ages at an abnormal rate. However, some parents resort to falsifying birth records, securing affidavits, and employing various means to artificially increase their children’s ages.

“They do this for their own prestige—to claim they are the parents of a lawyer or to boast that their child graduated at 13,” Oloyede remarked.

In November 2024, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced a reversal of the previous 18-year admission benchmark for tertiary institutions, bringing it back to 16 years.

“We will not proceed with the 18-year admission requirement. The minimum age will be 16, and we will collaborate with JAMB and other stakeholders to implement this.

“However, there will be exceptions for gifted students. The 18-year benchmark is no longer part of our policy,” Alausa confirmed.

Previously, in July 2024, the then Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, introduced a ban on admitting candidates under 18 into tertiary institutions, a decision that has now been revised.