In a notable shift, the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, has approved 16 years as the minimum admission age for tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session. This decision comes after considerable protests from stakeholders at the 2024 policy meeting organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Professor Mamman had set the admission age at 18 years. However, he revised this stance after stakeholders argued that students younger than 18 had already registered for, taken, and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and were awaiting admission.
The policy meeting, held on Thursday in Abuja, was attended by JAMB Registrar Ishaq Oloyede, vice-chancellors, registrars, and other key stakeholders. Professor Kayode Ijiadunola led the opposition to the initial age requirement, gaining widespread support from other heads, registrars, and admission officers present at the meeting. Ijiadunola proposed that the minimum age for admission should be 16 years.
He stated, “What happens to those who have written this year’s exams and passed their exams? We reject 18 years as the minimum age requirement and are proposing 16 years.” The proposal was met with overwhelming support.
JAMB Registrar Oloyede questioned the rush to enter tertiary institutions but acknowledged that students had already taken the exams without prior knowledge of the age requirement change. He suggested that if the new age policy were to be enforced, it should be implemented in subsequent years.
Minister Mamman conceded to the stakeholders’ demands, stating, “I can work with that but I want to remind you of one thing, even that argument cannot stand if we want to go by the law which states 6-3-3-4 as our system of education, it won’t stand but for practical reasons, for this year, I will allow it to stand.”
Professor Oloyede reiterated the decision, thanking the minister for his flexibility but emphasizing that the 18-year minimum age requirement would be enforced from the following year onwards.
Earlier, while delivering his address as the chairman of the 2024 JAMB policy meeting on Education, Professor Mamman had called for the enforcement of 18 years as the new minimum admission age for tertiary institutions in the country. Despite this initial stance, the minister’s willingness to adapt in response to practical considerations highlights the dynamic nature of educational policy-making in Nigeria.
