July 9, 2025
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has announced the formal pegging of the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions at 16 years by the federal government.
This was disclosed on Tuesday, at the 2025 policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Abuja.
According to the minister, ”This policy decision reflects a balance between cognitive maturity and academic preparedness. 16 years is non-negotiable”.
He emphasized that provisions existed for clearly documented and justified exceptions like gifted children with accelerated educational progress and warned institutions against attempting to circumvent the rule by altering age records, noting that such conduct would not be tolerated.
READ MORE; FG makes U-turn on 16-year admission benchmark in tertiary institutions
The new measures to curb the scourge of examination malpractices, was also unveiled by the minister, he described the menace as a “cancer” discrediting Nigeria’s education system.
To that effect, Alausa, announced the establishment of a Central Examination Malpractice Unit within the Federal Ministry of Education, to be chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Abel Enitan.
The unit would serve as a national clearing house for documenting and reporting malpractices cases across all levels of education in the country. ”This central database will be accessible to all institutions, offenders will be appropriately tried under the Exam Malpractices Act.
The minister, also confirmed the government’s backing to adopt computer-based testing to curb malpractices for WAEC and NECO examinations.
