The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has disclosed that only 1.16% of underage candidates who participated in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) demonstrated exceptional academic ability.

According to statistics released by the board, out of 40,247 underage candidates who sat for the exam, just 467 scored high enough to be classified under the “exceptional ability” category. These figures were drawn from the total 1,955,069 results processed by JAMB for the 2025 UTME.

While the board granted these underage candidates an opportunity to showcase their academic prowess under the “Exceptionally Brilliant Window,” their eligibility for subsequent admission stages remains under review.

The special window, introduced in February by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, allowed candidates below the age of 16 to participate in the examination if they met exceptional academic standards.

In a related development, JAMB reported 97 cases of examination infractions, with another 2,157 candidates currently under investigation for suspected malpractice. Furthermore, 71,701 candidates were recorded as absent from the examination.

The board also revealed that several candidates are being reviewed for biometric verification issues, and those cleared will be rescheduled for the examination.

JAMB announced an upcoming press conference to provide additional updates and to activate the result-checking portal for all candidates.

A breakdown of the overall performance showed that the majority of candidates scored below 200, while only 0.63% attained scores of 300 and above.

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