The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed that only 467 underage candidates, representing 1.16 percent of the 40,247 who registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), showed signs of exceptional academic ability.
This was made known on Monday through the board’s official handle on X (formerly Twitter), where it shared updates on the just-concluded examination. JAMB stated that while these high-performing underage candidates had shown promise, their full assessment is still ongoing.
The underage participants were allowed to sit for the UTME under the Exceptionally Brilliant Candidates policy introduced earlier this year by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede. This policy provides an opportunity for students below the age of 16 to prove they are ready for tertiary education.
Out of the 1,955,069 results processed so far, JAMB noted that a majority of candidates scored below 200 — the general cut-off for many competitive university courses.
Here is a breakdown of the 2025 UTME results:
– Only 0.63 percent (12,414 candidates) scored 300 and above.
– 3.76 percent (73,441 candidates) scored between 250 and 299.
– 17.11 percent (334,560 candidates) scored between 200 and 249.
– The largest group, 50.29 percent (983,187 candidates), scored between 160 and 199.
– 24.97 percent scored between 140 and 159.
– 2.94 percent scored between 120 and 139.
– 0.20 percent (3,820 candidates) scored between 100 and 119.
– 0.10 percent (2,031 candidates) scored below 100.
The data shows that over 75 percent of the candidates scored below 200, raising concerns about the quality of education and student readiness for university admission.
JAMB also reported serious cases of examination misconduct and technical challenges:
– 97 candidates were caught engaging in examination malpractice.
– 2,157 candidates are currently under investigation for suspected cheating.
– 71,701 candidates were absent from the exam without explanation.
The board noted ongoing issues with biometric verification, which have affected several candidates. Those cleared after investigation will be rescheduled to take the exam at designated centres.
Some results are still being processed, particularly for blind candidates and others in the JEOG group.
JAMB has scheduled a press conference to provide further updates. At that time, result-checking portals will be fully activated, allowing candidates to access their scores online.
