2025 sees unprecedented surge as 17,000 candidates score above 300 in JAMB; highest in 13 years

Key takeaways

  • No candidate scored above 300 until 2015, with just 40 high scorers that year out of over 1.46 million candidates.
  • 2025 marked the highest ever with 17,025 candidates scoring above 300, nearly double the count in 2024 and more than triple 2023.
  • From 2022 to 2025, above-300 scorers consistently remained over 5,000 each year, showing a steady rise in top scores.
  • Despite the growth in numbers of JAMB candidates, high scorers still make up less than 1% annually.

Since the introduction of CBT (Computer Based Test) in 2013 , the number of JAMB candidates who scored above 300 remained consistently low, with annual figures mostly below 6,000 despite total candidates ranging from 1.3 million to 1.9 million. In fact, from 2013 to 2015, fewer than 50 candidates scored above 300. Although slight increases were recorded between 2016 and 2023, the percentage of high scorers remained under 1% of the total candidates.

A noticeable shift occurred in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, 8,401 candidates scored above 300, and in 2025, this number more than doubled to 17,025. This marks the first significant jump in over a decade, with the 2025 figure accounting for nearly 0.9% of the total 1.93 million candidates.

Source:

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)

Period:

2013–2025
HTML code to embed chart
Want a bespoke report?
Reach out
Click to copy HTML embed code
Tags
Related Insights
Nigeria's insurance sector crossed ₦1.98tn in H1 2025 as every segment grew by at least 25%
  • Life Business was the single largest segment, and its 70.3% jump signals that more Nigerians are thinking seriously about financial protection for their families.
  • Miscellaneous, the smallest segment, posted the biggest growth at 86.7%, suggesting new and unconventional insurance products are gaining serious traction.
  • Aviation & Marine nearly doubled, with 79.9% growth in a sector tied to trade and logistics, reflecting Nigeria's expanding import/export activity and the rising cost of cargo and aircraft risk coverage.
  • Motor (52.5%), Fire (53.3%), and General Accident (49.6%) grew by roughly half, indicating broad-based sector expansion rather than isolated pockets of growth.
Nigeria’s crude oil export value surges over 400% from 2020 to a record ₦55.3tn in 2024
  • Export values have grown over 400%, rising from ₦11.8 trillion in 2013 to a peak of ₦55.3 trillion in 2024, a fivefold increase driven by rising oil prices and a weaker naira.
  • 2015 and 2016 were the hardest years, with export values crashing as low as ₦6.8 trillion in 2015, reflecting the brutal impact of the global oil price collapse on Nigeria's most critical export.
  • The most explosive growth came from 2023 onwards, with values surging past ₦29 trillion in 2023 and peaking at ₦55.3 trillion in 2024, largely driven by the naira depreciation following Nigeria's 2023 foreign exchange reforms.
  • The first nine months of 2025 saw a slower pace than the previous year, with ₦37.7 trillion recorded between Q1 and Q3, lower than the ₦41.5 trillion recorded during the same period in 2024.
Local companies have consistently contributed most of Nigeria’s Company Income Tax payments since 2016
  • Local companies dominated CIT contributions in most years, accounting for over 50% of payments in 9 of 11 periods between 2015 and 2025 (Q1–Q3).
  • Foreign companies briefly closed the gap in 2023, contributing 49%, the closest they have come to matching local firms.p
  • Local companies recorded their strongest share in 2021 at 65%, marking the widest gap between local and foreign contributors.
  • “Other payments” peaked during the pandemic, rising to 17% in 2020 before dropping to 0% from 2022 onward.
Silverbird Ikeja led the region with ₦1.1bn in ticket sales and the most cinema admissions in 2025
  • Ogun has become Nigeria’s second-largest industrial centre, with major clusters in Ota, Sagamu, and Ifo.
  • Limestone mining triggered a boom in cement production and heavy industry.
  • Infrastructure-Enabled Expansion: strategic projects such as the Oyan Dam and the Agro-Cargo Airport supported industrial and demographic growth.
  • Rapid population growth, particularly from Lagos spillover, fuelled labour supply and urban development.
Silverbird Ikeja led the region with ₦1.1bn in ticket sales and the most cinema admissions in 2025
  • Nigeria has nine of the top ten highest-grossing cinemas in Anglophone West Africa.
  • Lagos hosts six of the top ten cinemas and leads the region in both revenue and admissions.
  • Silverbird Ikeja recorded the highest revenue (₦1.1 billion) and the highest admissions (217,000).
  • Cinema chains control all top ten positions, showing strong brand dominance across the region.
The South West hosts over a quarter of Nigeria’s universities, with Ogun as the core hub
  • The South West hosts 82 of Nigeria’s 309 universities (27%), the largest share nationwide.
  • Ogun State alone accounts for 24 universities, nearly one in every three institutions in the South West.
  • The South West has 18 more universities than North Central (64), the second-highest zone.
  • The gap between the highest zone (82) and the lowest zone (21) is 61 universities, underscoring the regional imbalance.
POPULAR TOPICS
SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Get periodic updates about the African startup space, access to our reports, among others.
Subscribe Here
Subscription Form
A product of Techpoint Africa. All rights reserved