Stakeholders Applaud Oloyede for Convening JAMB’s First National Stakeholder Engagement on Underage Students
The JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), acting on behalf of the Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, on Tuesday convened the First Stakeholder Engagement on Underage Students Admitted in the 2025/2026 Academic Session. which attracted 283 participants under the theme “Achieving Success in Higher Education of Underage Students Admitted in the 2025/2026 Session,” brought together Vice-Chancellors, parents, education experts, child development specialists, legal authorities, and the underage students themselves for a landmark national conversation.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja at the end of the event, Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola who is the President of Global University for Innovation (GUNi-Africa), noted that no higher education system in the world has established such a support system at the national level as what Professor Oloyede has set up for underage students in Nigeria.
96 students who were below the statutory minimum age of 16 years were admitted into Nigerian universities for the 2025/2026 session, having each satisfied a stringent multi-layered screening process.
The conditions for their admission, approved by the Federal Ministry of Education in 2025, required a minimum UTME score of 320 (equivalent to 80 per cent), a minimum of 80 per cent in the post-UTME examination, a minimum of 80 per cent in the Senior School Certificate Examination, and a minimum of 80 per cent in an independent expert assessment interview. Their admission was therefore, in the words of the JAMB Registrar, “neither accidental nor sentimental.”
According to Oloyede, “it is important to state clearly that the position of government on age and admission did not emerge arbitrarily. As far back as the 1981 National Policy on Education, Nigeria, (Section 7, Sub Section 2) had already established a structured educational progression designed to align learning with stages of cognitive and emotional development.
” The policy envisages progression through basic and secondary education in a manner that ordinarily places candidates for tertiary education at approximately sixteen (16) years of age.
“This policy direction has remained substantially consistent over the years because educational progression is not merely about academic exposure, but about the total preparation of the learner for life and society. Some universities, including University of Lagos and University of Ibadan, strictly uphold this requirement and do not admit candidates below the age of 16, irrespective of how academically exceptional such candidates may be”
Delivering the opening remarks, Professor Emeritus Peter A. Okebukola, Chairman of JEOG, emphasised that the Group does not view the underage students as problems to be managed but as young Nigerians representing both an extraordinary opportunity and a shared national responsibility.
He noted that JEOG mentors have been individually assigned to each of the 96 students, and that every institution, parent, counsellor and administrator interacting with these students carries a role that is “not incidental but indispensable.”
According to Okebukola “our task today is to ensure that precocity is met not with neglect or indifference, but with wisdom, structure and genuine love for the young.”
The engagement was structured around three technical sessions. The first addressed the pedagogy of supporting gifted students, with panel presentations from Professor Uchenna Maristella Nzewi of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Foluso Okebukola of Lagos State University, and Professor Grace Eno Nta of the University of Calabar.
Their presentations covered differentiated instruction, mentoring frameworks, academic monitoring systems, and international best practice. The second session moderated by Professor Gaji Fatima Dantata of Bayero University, Kano, examined the psychological dimension of underage university life, exploring cognitive-emotional gaps, stress indicators, resilience-building strategies, and counselling models.
The third session led by Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, former Director General of Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), addressed among others, constitutional provisions and the child rights and legal framework, focusing on Nigeria’s Child Rights Act.
In a session that drew particular attention from participants, selected underage students shared candid reflections on their experiences, covering academic workload and support received, social integration, emotional adjustment, and their expectations of institutions, parents, and JAMB/JEOG. Facilitated by Professor Asabe Kabir, the student panel offered firsthand accounts that directly informed the engagement’s closing recommendations.
In a poll during the event, most participants approved the label of Exceptionally Brilliant Underage Students (EBUAS) for the under-16 who have been admitted through JAMB for various undergraduate courses rather than as a generic label for any underage candidates that have not been processed successfully through the crucible of the JAMB admission process.
Goodwill messages were delivered by Mohammed A. Babaji, Director of Admissions at JAMB, and by Vice-Chancellors of UI, LASU, ABUAD, Covenant University, University of Ilorin and others currently enrolling JAMB-approved underage students. Special goodwill message was delivered by Professor Samuel Gbadebo Odewumi, VC University of Uyo.
The closing summary of outcomes and next steps was jointly delivered by Professor Okebukola and Project Coordinator Professor Abdulwaheed Olatinwo. The event was formally closed by the JAMB Registrar.
This first stakeholder engagement marks the beginning of what JEOG has described as a sustained programme of national action, including zonal engagement sessions planned for subsequent months, aimed at ensuring that every one of the 96 underage students admitted this session completes their university education safely, successfully, and with their well-being fully protected.
