Former NBA 1st Vice President and 2026 presidential hopeful, John Aikpokpo-Martins, has faulted the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over its policy subjecting under-16 candidates with high examination scores to special screening interviews.
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Reacting to recent comments by JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, that the exercise was to test the “psychological and emotional maturity” of such candidates before admission, Aikpokpo-Martins dismissed the justification as arbitrary and unlawful.
“I wonder by what means JAMB can evaluate and determine the psychological and emotional maturity of a candidate by mere performance in an interview. If educational intelligence were a determinant of psychological and emotional maturity, then it follows that all candidates who scored higher in the examination are more psychologically and emotionally matured than those who scored less,” he said.
He described the policy as inconsistent and discriminatory, citing scenarios where a 15-year-old with a score of 320 could be denied admission on grounds of immaturity, while a 16-year-old with 200 marks is deemed eligible.
Aikpokpo-Martins also accused Oloyede of “malicious disobedience” of a valid court judgment, recalling that a Delta State High Court had in February 2025 declared JAMB’s age-based admission restriction unconstitutional and restrained the board from enforcing it.
“Prof. Ishaq Oloyede-led JAMB continues to defy this judgment, arrogantly interfering with the educational futures of over 40,000 young Nigerians as if operating above the law,” he said, warning that silence from the public risked enabling “tyranny.”
He therefore urged the Nigerian Bar Association, through its Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), to intervene immediately, stressing that the continued exclusion of young Nigerians from admission on age grounds violates their constitutional rights to education and freedom from discrimination.
“Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of JAMB, is not above the law,” he declared.
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