Only 108 of 39,000 underage UTME candidates meet admission requirements — Alausa

Only 108 of about 39,000 candidates below the age of 16 who sat the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have met the Federal Government’s stringent requirements for consideration for admission into tertiary institutions.

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while honouring the best-performing candidates in the 2026 UTME and outstanding underage candidates presented by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Segun Aina.

Alausa said the successful candidates emerged from a rigorous, multi-stage screening process designed to establish their academic excellence and psychological, emotional and intellectual readiness for university education.

According to the minister, 2,244,149 candidates registered for the 2026 UTME, while 2,174,396 sat the examination. Of these, approximately 39,000 were below the prescribed minimum admission age of 16.

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He explained that candidates seeking consideration for admission below the age threshold were required to score at least 320 out of 400 in the UTME, representing 80 per cent.

They were also required to score at least 80 per cent in their post-UTME examinations, meet the stipulated threshold in the assessment of their O’level results and pass a screening exercise to determine their maturity and readiness for higher education.

Alausa disclosed that only 391 underage candidates attained the minimum UTME score of 320, while subsequent assessments reduced the number who met all the requirements to 108.

He described the successful candidates as exceptionally gifted, noting that their performance demonstrated the importance of identifying and nurturing outstanding young talents.

“You are the geniuses in our society,” the minister told the candidates, adding that their abilities could be harnessed to develop innovations and solutions to challenges confronting Nigeria and the wider world.

He clarified that the minimum admission age of 16 was not intended to deny academically gifted children opportunities to advance their education but to ensure that prospective students possessed the emotional stability and maturity required to cope with university life.

According to him, academic excellence alone was insufficient to guarantee a successful transition to higher education, which also required candidates to demonstrate the capacity to navigate its intellectual and social demands.

The minister said the screening exercise produced encouraging results, particularly in the candidates’ confidence, intellectual ability and responses to questions designed to assess their preparedness for university education.

He added that the JAMB registrar, Aina, was impressed by the candidates’ performance during the assessment.

Alausa urged the successful candidates to regard their abilities as a responsibility to society and use their education to develop practical solutions capable of improving lives.

“You are the ones that will change Nigeria and change the world with your innovations,” he said.

The minister linked the recognition of exceptional young Nigerians to the country’s development prospects, noting that the nation’s youthful population represented an important resource that required proper education and investment.

He said the Federal Government’s education reforms were aimed at expanding opportunities for young Nigerians and strengthening the country’s capacity to transform their potential into innovations and solutions to national challenges.

Alausa congratulated the candidates on behalf of President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Ministry of Education, expressing confidence that their abilities could produce breakthroughs with far-reaching benefits.

The ceremony also featured the recognition of the highest-scoring candidates in the 2026 UTME.

Owoeye Daniella Jesudunsin emerged as the overall best candidate with 372 marks, while Enwere Kingsley Ikenna came second with 370 marks.

The eight recognised candidates, comprising the two highest-scoring UTME candidates and six outstanding underage candidates, received plaques and certificates from the minister.