Nigeria: 135 Underage Candidates Affected As Varsities Delay Post-Utme Scores

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced an adjustment in the final date for the scheduled assessment of underage candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Examination Board (UTME).

This follows delays by some universities in submitting post-UTME scores as earlier agreed.

According to JAMB, the National Examinations Council (NECO) released the 2025 SSCE results on Wednesday, September 17, 2025.

However, in a press statement on Thursday, by the close of the submission deadline for screening scores on September 15, JAMB's public communication advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said 23 of the 71 universities chosen by the candidates had not uploaded their results.

According to him, the delay has affected 135 candidates. The highest numbers are from the University of Lagos (39 candidates), Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja (18) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (15).

Other institutions include the University of Abuja (12), University of Uyo (9), Federal University of Technology, Owerri (8), David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu (6) and University of Calabar (6).

Lagos State University (5), Bingham University (3), Federal University, Lokoja (2) and Lead City University (2) are also on the list, alongside several others with one affected candidate each.

Fabian said, "By this press release and emails sent to the defaulting universities, they are urged to submit their screening scores without further delay. The future of these candidates must not be jeopardised by administrative lapses."

JAMB further reminded the institutions of the deadlines already fixed at the 2025 policy meeting on admissions. "All public universities must upload their recommended candidates on the central admissions processing system (CAPS) on or before Tuesday, September 30, 2025, while private universities are expected to do so on or before Friday, October 31, 2025," the statement read.

He stressed that the timelines would not be shifted. "These dates are sacrosanct as decided at the 2025 policy meeting on admissions under the chairmanship of Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, the minister of education. JAMB will not entertain excuses for non-compliance," he added.

The board emphasised that timely compliance is crucial to ensure that the admission process is concluded smoothly and without further disruption to the affected candidates.

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