The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced that applicants who falsely claim to be underage during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration will face penalties for misleading the board and wasting its resources.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, made this declaration on Tuesday while inspecting Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres in Lagos. He cautioned that students and parents engaging in fraudulent age declarations will bear the consequences of their actions.
Over 11,500 Underage Candidates Already Registered
Oloyede disclosed that as of the 10th day of registration, 780,202 candidates had been successfully registered, out of which 11,512 were underage. He expressed concerns over the alarming number of candidates claiming underage status, far beyond what is expected for truly gifted students.
“When you are expecting 30 to 40 underage candidates, and suddenly we have over 11,500, you can see the deceit. Today alone, 18,813 candidates have registered, and 443 of them claim to be underage,” he stated.
Global Standard for Exceptionally Gifted Students
The JAMB Registrar explained that internationally, exceptional students are rare, estimating that only one in a million students would genuinely qualify as underage prodigies.
**“People make comparisons with America and Canada, but how many do they have in the whole country? It’s one in a million.
“We want to identify the truly gifted ones, but not these fake figures being paraded. Some of these candidates can’t even score 200 out of 400 in UTME. Their parents rushed them through primary school, manipulated records, or even bought certificates just to push them ahead academically,”** he said.
Underage Candidates Must Prove Their Intelligence
Oloyede made it clear that candidates under 16 are not automatically recognized as JAMB candidates. Instead, they must prove their exceptional abilities through performance in UTME and other assessments.
**“Those we call candidates are 16 years and above. These underage ones are not considered candidates yet. They need to prove that they deserve to be here.
“But if we find out that they falsely claimed underage status and fail to meet expectations, they will face penalties. It would have been better for them to wait for their time instead of wasting our resources,”** Oloyede warned.
JAMB’s Commitment to Standardized Admission Process
The board reiterated its commitment to maintaining transparency and fairness in the admission process, stating that it will not condone fraudulent practices by candidates or their parents.
With UTME 2025 registration still ongoing, JAMB will continue to monitor underage claims closely, ensuring that only genuinely gifted students benefit from early admission considerations.
Sir please am turning 16 this December 1st, please help us,let do it,we are capable of doing it don’t discriminate oct to December children from January to September, please help us out 😔
Sir please it shouldn’t just be 16 by September just becauseof few days or weeks some people are known as underage for jamb
Sir pls I’ll be 16 by October 14, sir please have a pitiful mercy on October to December candidates. PLS SIR