₦airaland Forum

The federal government has officially fixed the minimum age for entry into the country’s tertiary institutions at 16 years, News360 Nigeria reports.

This decision was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, during the opening of the ongoing Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja.

Dr. Alausa emphasized that the government would no longer tolerate any admission conducted outside the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), warning that such exercises would be deemed illegal and those responsible prosecuted.

He stressed that the 16-year admission age benchmark is final and non-negotiable.

The minister further cautioned heads of institutions against engaging in admission racketeering, noting that any attempt to undermine the process would attract severe legal consequences.

PriceActionZ:
What happend to those that they gave potential opportunities for: the underaged that must score above 320 in the last jamb? That means they have been scammed. Government and inconsistencies in their policies.

SmartPolician:
IMO, a child of 16 is even too young to be in the university.

PriceActionZ:
What happend to those that they gave potential opportunities for: the underaged that must score above 320 in the last jamb? That means they have been scammed. Government and inconsistencies in their policies.

Felicity001:
Hasn't it been 16yrs of age ever since?
How is this a news anyways.

6 years for Nursery and Primary
6yrs for secondary
That's 12yrs.

As my son is already 6yrs of age and in pri.1 so 6+12=18... 2yrs difference...

Okay I know what to do then

nairalanda1:
There have been stories from here and oversease of kids admitted to university at 14, 13, 12, and many of them may do well, but eventually emotionally crash at some point. Maturity is the issue.

The truth is, 16 is even too young self. At the end, kids have to be a bit mature to enter university. It's not secondary school. No one will give you notes, and no one will tell you ye must study.

SmartPolician:
IMO, a child of 16 is even too young to be in the university. What people mostly do in school is cram and pour. A university should be a place where people are involved in critical thinking and coming up with innovative solutions. I don't see how a child of 16 can do that.

If you return to read the books you used during your undergrads, the way you understand it now won't be the same way you understood that time because your brain is well advanced now. I think the limit should be 18 or 16 years with the prerequisite that the child hits 300 or above in UTME.

Willy2025:
I think this is fair enough. It will lay all controversies about admission to rest. It should be adopted and made the baseline for new admissions.

PriceActionZ:
What happend to those that they gave potential opportunities for: the underaged that must score above 320 in the last jamb? That means they have been scammed. Government and inconsistencies in their policies.

FreeStuffsNG:
They have not been scammed. Prior to this final decision, JAMB will be out of order to bar them. That's why JAMB inserted several conditions.

There's no guarantee that they will even be admitted. It's institutions that admit students, not JAMB.

For UNILAG, even if you like score 400 in JAMB, if you're not 16 and above, you can't even sit for UNILAG post UTME. FG is just catching up with UNILAG and that's probably because the current Minister of Education had first-hand experience of the benefits as he is an Akokite. University of Lagos(UNILAG), the University of First Choice, has been using age limits for decades!

PriceActionZ:
What happend to those that they gave potential opportunities for: the underaged that must score above 320 in the last jamb? That means they have been scammed. Government and inconsistencies in their policies.