Age limit for university entry 18. No, 16!
In just hours, age limit for admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions moved down from 18 to 16 years.
Protests from stakeholders had greeted announcement by Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, that henceforth the minimum age one must attain to be admitted into Nigerian tertiary institutions was 18 years.
As soon as the minister gave the announcement at the event policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) holding at the Body of Benchers’ auditorium in Abuja, virtually everyone in the hall began shouting, “No, no, no!”, Vanguard reports.
Mamman said that the decision was aimed at engaging some of the challenges facing tertiary institutions, especially universities, blaming some of the challenges on students below 18 years old.
He doubled down on the protests submitting that it was already a federal government policy, and making it appear as a fait accompli.
However, hours after, Mamman backed down saying that the policy of no admission for students below age 18 will come into effect next year.
The meeting was held to appraise the conduct of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that featured 1,989,668 registered candidates.
Out of the number, 80,810 were absent, while a total of 1,904,189 wtote the examination.