The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has vowed to imposes anctions on under age applicants participating in the ongoing 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME) registration.JAMB Registrar,Prof.Ishaq Oloyede,made this declaration on Friday in Lagos while monitoring the registration process at various Computer-Based Test(CBT) centres.He expressed concern over the rising number of underage candidates,warning that the may face penalties form isusing the opportunity given to exceptionally brilliant students below the age of 16.
Over11,500 Underage Candidates Registered So Far Oloyede revealed that out of the 780,202 candidates registered so far,astaggering 11,512 applicants are underage.“We expected around 30to40 underage applicants,but what we have now is shocking. Today alone,we registered 18,813 candidates,and 443 of them are underage,”he said. The JAMB boss lamented that the provision for highly gifted students has been abused,with many parents rushing their children into the system without ensuring they meet the required academic and mental readiness.
Penalties for Underage Applicants Oloyede warned that underage candidates who fail to meet expectations will face penalties.“We will impose some other penalties on them.It would have been better for them to wait for their time,because they are going to waste their money,”he stated.No Extension of UTME Registration Despite the large number of registrants,JAMB has ruled out any extension for the 2025 UTME registration,confirming that the process has been smooth and on schedule.“There will be no extension because there is no problem with the registration process.Students are registering,and we are surpassing our daily targets,”Oloyede said.He noted that JAMB had initially planned for 60,000 registrations per day,but due to high demand and an efficient process,the board has been registering between 80,000 and 100,000 candidates daily.JAMB on Track to Meet 2Million Candidate Target JAMB is expecting a total of two million candidates for the 2025 UTME.As of Friday,the board had successfully registered over 782,000 candidates,and with three weeks remaining,it is on track to complete the registration well ahead of schedule.“We still have Saturday,Sunday,and Monday before we reach the two-weekmark. By then,we would have exceeded 1million registrations.The process has been smooth,and we are confident we will finish on time,”Oloyede assured.With JAMB tightening its rules on underage candidates,parents are urged to ensure their children meet them inimum admission age requirement of 16 years be fore attempting to register for the UTME.
