The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed that over 11,553 underage candidates have already registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Speaking during an inspection of approved Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres in Lagos, Oloyede provided updates on the registration process, technical challenges, and emerging trends in the education sector.
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Massive Registration and Underage Candidates
According to Oloyede, 782,027 candidates have been registered within just 10 days of opening the UTME registration portal. Among them, 11,553 candidates were identified as underage.
“Now, we have registered 782,027, and 11,553 of them are underage. So, you can see that as we are registering, the system is reporting from all over the country. Out of the expected two million candidates, we’re not yet at the 14th day. Monday will mark our 14th day. By that time, we expect to have over one million candidates registered. So far, everything has been smooth,” he said.
On Friday alone, 443 underage candidates were registered, with 18,813 candidates successfully completing registration that morning.
Why Are Parents Rushing to Register Underage Students?
Oloyede highlighted the increasing trend of parents enrolling their children at an early age. He noted that parental pressure plays a significant role in this, sometimes pushing children beyond their educational and emotional readiness.
“It has become a common thing now, where parents—whether mothers or fathers—are registering their underage children, sometimes due to pressure or other reasons,” he said.
He also explained that JAMB has introduced a new system to track underage candidates. This will help identify exceptionally gifted students while ensuring others are not rushed into higher education before they are ready.
Technical Challenges and Registration Delays
While the registration process has been largely successful, Oloyede acknowledged some delays caused by newly introduced technical measures.
“You were here last year. See if you can find any power outages, network failures, and so forth. I just heard recently that due to the technical measures put in place this year, things are a bit slow,” he said.
However, he emphasized that these delays are necessary to ensure accuracy and efficiency in the process.
“No, it’s not a bit slow. You know Nigerians generally want to have things their own way. Look at these students. In other climes, they have to register on their own. Nobody should be doing registration for them.”
New Measures to Improve Candidate Engagement
To improve engagement, JAMB has introduced a mandatory reading period for candidates during registration.
“In the past, once a candidate clicked ‘I agree,’ the system would proceed. But now, we have introduced a time delay. The system will not proceed until the candidate spends a set time reading the terms. Whether they like it or not, they must read before continuing,” Oloyede explained.
Record-Breaking Registration Numbers
Despite the technical challenges, the 2025 UTME registration has already recorded higher daily registration numbers than previous years.
“This is the first time that we have been registering 80,000-plus. Yesterday, we registered close to 100,000 across the country. And we have budgeted for 60,000 per day. But from the third day, we started 80,000, 90,000 per day. So, this means we will finish long before the deadline,” Oloyede stated.
Conclusion: What This Means for Nigeria’s Education System
The large number of underage candidates registering for UTME raises questions about the readiness of these students for higher education. While some may be academically gifted, many are being rushed into tertiary institutions due to societal or parental pressure.
JAMB’s new measures aim to ensure that students are fully engaged in the registration process while improving the efficiency of the system.
As the 2025 UTME registration continues, the focus remains on balancing accessibility, efficiency, and fairness in Nigeria’s education sector.
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