The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has stated the only condition in which it could wave its policy on underage candidates.

The clarification on the fate of underage candidates was a major fallout of the of a meeting in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday of the management of the board, led by the Registrar, Professor Isaq Oloyede, and Commissioners for Education in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He made reference to pressures being mounted by parents and guardians, regarding exceptionally brilliant candidates or others a little short of the 16 years admission age set by the admission body, stating:

“For now, 16 years is the admission age, and if anybody is not up to that age, he has to meet the requirement of scoring 80 per cent in the UTME and the post-UTME screening.

“Going by the country’s education policy, and if people stick to the rules, most students should be close to 16 before the admission year”, he said.

The matter of underage candidates had turned out a contentious one, making the registrar to put the matter to vote, whereby the majority gave the Board the go-ahead to continue the special assessment process for such candidates.

Aside the issue of underage candidates, the registrar also responded to the issue of special concessions and registration hitherto allowed for people with albinism.

He said the board had cancelled it because some people were now using it to perpetrate malpractice.

“A computer that is registered in a particular centre will remain there and is not transferable to another centre.

“Some people, because they want their centres to be accredited, would go and borrow computers from different sources, and after we have thought they are qualified and accredited them, then they will be moving the computers from one place to the other.

“Name, state and other vital information of a candidate are obtained from the NIN they submit for registration. We don’t misspell names because we don’t tamper with that”, he said.