The Federal Government has imposed a new age restriction policy on admission into tertiary institutions.
The new policy was announced by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman on Thursday at the JAMB annual policy meeting at the Body of Benchers Complex in Abuja.
The policy stipulates that only candidates 18 years and above will be admitted into tertiary institutions across the country.
The JAMB policy meeting is an annual event where stakeholders from various tertiary institutions convene to determine the cut-off marks for admissions for the academic year.
The meeting also sets the guidelines for the year’s admission exercise, with JAMB presenting application statistics, performance evaluations, and minimum admission standards.
Prof. Mamman also said that underage candidates contributed significantly to crises in the nation’s universities.
The announcement was met with immediate and loud protests from the audience.
Despite the strong backlash, the minister stood firm on the decision, emphasising that the policy is already an established directive from the federal government.
According to Prof. Mamman, the age restriction aims to tackle some critical issues plaguing tertiary institutions, particularly universities.
“The decision is aimed at ensuring that candidates are more mature when they enter higher education institutions,” the minister explained.
He added that aggrieved parties could seek redress through the national assembly to amend the policy.
Among the stakeholders present were heads of regulatory agencies such as the National University Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and the National Council for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
