After facing significant backlash over his decision to set the minimum entry age for tertiary institutions at 18 years, Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has reversed the directive. He announced that starting from 2025, only candidates who have reached 18 years of age will be eligible for admission.
In response to concerns raised about students under 18 who had already taken and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the minister agreed that institutions could admit candidates as young as 16 years for the current admission cycle.
The reversal came after a heated debate during the 2024 Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) policy meeting, chaired by the minister in Abuja. Vice Chancellor of Elizade University, Prof. Kayode Thadius Ijiadunola, led the opposition, advocating for a minimum age of 16 for admission, a stance supported by many other educational leaders present.
Despite initial resistance, Minister Mamman conceded to allowing admissions for younger candidates this year but emphasized the legal framework of the 6-3-3-4 education system. He acknowledged the practical implications of the decision for the current academic cycle but reaffirmed that the 18-year benchmark would be enforced from the following year.
The policy meeting also set the 2024 admission cutoff marks at 140 for universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education. These decisions were reached after evaluating the results of the 2024 UTME, which saw nearly 1.9 million candidates participating.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, clarified that while institutions could adjust their individual cutoff marks upwards, they were not permitted to lower them below the nationally agreed minimums set during the policy meeting.
