FG makes U-turn, asks institutions to admit candidates from 16 years for 2024 session

Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, has asked Nigerian tertiary institutions to admit candidates from the age of 16 for the 2024 session.

The pronouncement came a few hours after the minister directed that candidates seeking admission into universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education must now be 18 and above.

Mamman spoke on Thursday at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) 2024 policy meeting.

His pronouncement, however, attracted loud disapproval from the crowd of education stakeholders consisting of heads of tertiary institutions, registrars, and their admission officers.

Responding to their pleas, the minister stressed that the law required that children should be in tertiary institutions at 18 years, having attended six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary school, and three years in senior secondary school.

Mamman then accepted the suggestions of the stakeholders that candidates from 16 years and above should be eligible for this year’s admission.

He, however, added that the new policy will apply from next year.

JAMB: 16-year-old candidates will be considered for admission in 2024 session

Corroborating Mamman’s pronouncement, the exam body took to X to announce that candidates from 16 years and above will be considered for this year’s admission.

JAMB added that from 2025, the entry age into tertiary institutions will be 18.

“Candidates who are 16 years old would be considered for admissions into tertiary institutions for the 2024 academic year, however, the entry age would be 18 years as from next academic year,” it wrote.

Candidates who are 16 years old would be considered for admissions into tertiary institutions for the 2024 academic year, however , the entry age would be 18 years as from next academic year.

— JAMB (@JAMBHQ) July 18, 2024

The JAMB policy meeting is an annual event where stakeholders from tertiary institutions in Nigeria sit to decide on appropriate cut-off marks for admissions in the current academic year.

The meeting also sets the tone for the year’s admission exercise and guidelines by which all institutions must admit students.

At the meeting, JAMB will present application statistics, a performance evaluation of candidates, and the acceptable minimum admissions standards.