Nigeria announces UTME results for underage candidates and new university programmes

Nigeria's Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced that only 108 underage candidates met the federal requirements for university admission following the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Out of approximately 39,000 candidates who sat the exam below the minimum age of 16, only 391 achieved the required UTME score of 320 out of 400. After additional psychological, emotional, and intellectual readiness screenings, the number of eligible candidates was reduced to 108.

Separately, the Federal University Dutse (FUD) in Jigawa State has approved 22 new academic programmes across five faculties for the 2026/2027 academic session. These include new offerings in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Medical Laboratory Science, and Physiotherapy. While most new programmes have a UTME cut-off mark of 150, specialized medical courses such as Optometry, Radiography, and Physiotherapy require a higher cut-off of 180.