JAMB Registrar monitors UTME registration in Lagos

By Gabriel Dike

The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has assured brilliant candidates that the board would not shut its door against them.

Candidates waiting to be registered at JKK

Oloyede gave the assurance in Lagos when he monitored the ongoing registration for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in some selected CBT centers.

He monitored the UTME registration at four approved CBT centers at Joint Komputer Kompany (JKK), Ikorodu Road, Yaba LCDA CBT at Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba College of Technology and Human Development Initiative (HDI), Onike.

At each of the CBT centers, Prof. Oloyede, asked the Admins and some candidates about the process of the UTME registration.

The JAMB boss confirmed that the Board has registered about 780,202 candidates nationwide for the 2025 UTME as at Friday and out of which 11,512 of them are underaged.

He noted: “I think the registration this year has been smooth and we thank the stakeholders. We have categorized the registration this year. We currently have 856 centers across the country and one of the features this year is that we categorize the candidates into A, B or C. You know they are in different categories.

“The age limitation that we started implementing last year, we need to know to have data, to have facts for whatever decision we want to take.

“You will recollect that from last year, we have started implementing 16 years minimum age. It had always been there and when you look at our adverts, it had always been there but unfortunately we have not been enforcing it. For the first time last year, at the policy meeting, we started this issue of 18-16 years, then we pleaded for 16 and this year the new minister of education agreed that let’s leave it at 16 as it were and that’s what we are operating, that’s what we operated in 2024. We also created opportunity for exceptionally underaged.

“In other places, there will be one in a million of them but as few as they are, we should not close the door against them.”

He explained that initially the board wanted to peg the age at 16 but felt to identify the few underaged between 30-40 of them in the whole country.

“We felt that if you are underaged and you feel that you have something exceptional then you should register. We created an avenue for them,” Oloyede stated.

The registrar revealed that the board created opportunity for exceptionally underaged candidates, “those who are not up to 16 but who are exceptionally brilliant (13-14 year- old).”

The JAMB registrar commended stakeholders involved in the ongoing registration for ensuring a smooth exercise in the 856 CBT centers nationwide.

He said the board introduced some features such as the  categorization of the candidates.

Prof. Oloyede also revealed that as at Friday, the board has paid over N400million to the approved CBT centers for the number of candidates they have registered and others for different services rendered.

According to him, the board has set a new record with the registration of over 80,000 candidates daily as against 60,000 projected in the ongoing registration.

He insisted that the board would not extend the registration, noting, “it can’t happen, because there is no problem, students are registering and we are registering daily more than what we had projected. We are likely going to surpass the target, yes, we are surpassing the target.”