FG sets 18 as minimum age for tertiary institution admission

Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, says candidates seeking admission into higher institutions must now be 18 and above.

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

During his address, Mamman pegged the minimum age for admission into universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education at 18.

Following his pronouncement, the crowd of education stakeholders roared “no”.

The minister said the decision is already a “policy” the federal government has keyed into.

Mamman said candidates are expected to be more mature at 18 years old.

He said aggrieved parties can approach the national assembly to amend the policy.

The directive, it is understood, will take effect from 2025.

The JAMB policy meeting is an annual event where stakeholders from the various tertiary institutions in the country 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 is expected to present application statistics, a performance evaluation of candidates, and the acceptable minimum admissions standards.

Among the stakeholders present at the meeting are 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).

Others are heads of tertiary institutions in the country and delegates from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).