The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the Federal Government’s age limit policy for university admission.
Recall that the FG has restricted individuals under the age of 18 from participating in the National Examinations Council (NECO) and West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exams.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman disclosed this when he appeared on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ program on Sunday night.
Prof. Mamman disclosed that it was not a new policy, stressing that the age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), supervised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), remains 18 years.
“It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age but from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age which is 18.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time,” he stated.
The Minister added: “Even basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.
“So, we are not coming up with new policy contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination.”
Reacting to the policy on Wednesday, Mr. Atiku said that the policy “belongs in the Stone Ages”.
His words: “The recent policy of the Federal Ministry of Education pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship.
“The policy runs foul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a federal system of government such as we are practising, and gives a graphic impression of how the Tinubu government behaves like a lost sailor on a high sea. Otherwise, how is such anti-scholarship regulation the next logical step in the myriad of issues besetting our educational system?
“To be clear, the Nigerian constitution puts education in the concurrent list of schedules, in which the sub-national government enjoys more roles above the federal government. Therefore, it is extra-constitutional for the federal government to legislate on education in a manner similar to a decree.”
According to him, the best global standard for such regulation is to allow the sub-national governments to make respective laws or rules on education.
“It is discouraging that even while announcing this obnoxious policy, the government inadvertently said it had no plan to cater for specially gifted pupils,” the politician noted, describing the statement as “an embarrassment to the body of intellectuals in the country because it portrays Nigeria as a country where gifted students are not appreciated.”
The former Vice President of Nigeria added: “The irony here is that should the federal government play any role in education, it is to set up mechanisms that will identify and grant scholarships to gifted students not minding their ages before applying for admission into tertiary institutions.”
He reiterated that the ‘controversial policy’ belongs in the Stone Ages and should be roundly condemned by everyone who believes in intellectual freedom and accessibility.
