The Federal Government has reversed the 18-year age limit for admission into tertiary institutions, now allowing 16-year-olds to qualify for university entry.
Morufu Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, announced this during his inaugural press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
BusinessDay recalls that Tahir Mamman, former Minister of Education, in July, had directed during the 2024 JAMB policy meeting that only candidates above 18 years of age should be admitted into tertiary institutions.
The decision faced great opposition from stakeholders, including vice chancellors and rectors. Under pressure, Mamman reversed his stance during the meeting, allowing students aged 16 and above to be admitted for the 2024/2025 session. However, he confirmed that from subsequent years onwards, the minimum age for admission will return to 18.
The new policy by Alausa, however, effectively lowers the age benchmark for tertiary education admission, overturning the previous decision made by the former Minister of Education.
Alausa said, “We will not be going forward with the 18-years admission benchmark. We will go for 16 years and we are going to meet with JAMB and others on that. There will also be exceptions for the gifted students. Eighteen-years is not part of our policy again.’’
Alausa stated that the policy was detrimental to the federal government’s efforts to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country and was not sustainable for the education sector.
He noted that the reversal of the policy will help reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria. Addressing the withdrawal of certificates obtained from Benin Republic and Togo, the minister maintained the suspension of the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates gotten from said countries.
He said the policy would remain in place to help eliminate fake certificates from the system. He also said going forward, Nigeria’s education system will be 80 percent practical and 20 percent theoretical, to help curb the unemployment situation in Nigeria.
Alausa noted that practical teaching is necessary, as tertiary institutions will not continue to produce graduates on a yearly basis without jobs for Nigerians.
He said the federal government will work with private sector operators for the training of students to unleash their potentials, noting that universities of agriculture will be empowered to embrace merchandised farming in order to curb food insecurity.
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