Underage Students Not A Problem, But An Opportunity – Group

The chairman of JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, has stated that the group does not view underage students as problems to be managed but as young Nigerians who represent both an extraordinary opportunity and a shared national responsibility.

Okebukola spoke in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the first stakeholders’ engagement on underage students admitted in the 2025/2026 academic session held in Abuja yesterday.

The event, organised by JEOG on behalf of the registrar and chief executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, with the theme “Achieving Success in Higher Education of Underage Students Admitted in the 2025/2026 Session,” attracted 283 participants.

Addressing reporters in Abuja at the end of the event, Okebukola, who is also 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 the one Oloyede has set up for underage students in Nigeria.

No fewer than 96 students 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, “either accidental or sentimental.”

According to Oloyede, “It is important to state clearly that the position of government on age and admission did not emerge arbitrarily. As early as the 1 81 National Policy on Education in Nigeria (Section 7, Subsection 2), a structured educational progression had already been established to align learning with the stages of cognitive and emotional development.

The policy envisaged progression through basic and secondary education in a manner that ordinarily places candidates for tertiary education at approximately sixteen (16) years of age.

His 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.”

JEOG chairman noted that the group’s 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.””

Your task today is to ensure that precocity is met not with neglect or indifference, but with wisdom, structure and genuine love for the young, “Okebukola said.

In their presentations, 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 addressed the pedagogy of supporting gifted students.

They elaborated on differentiated instruction, mentoring frameworks, academic monitoring systems, and international best practices.

In a session moderated by Professor Gaji Fatima Dantata of Bayero University, Kano, the psychological dimension of underage university life was examined, exploring cognitive-emotional gaps, stress indicators, resilience-building strategies, and counselling models.

Another session, led by Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, former Director General of the 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 Exceptionally Brilliant Underage Students (EBUAS) for underage students admitted through JAMB for various undergraduate courses, rather than a generic label for any underage candidates who have not been processed successfully through the crucible of the JAMB admission process.