FG sets varsity admission age at 16

The Federal Government has officially set 16 years as the minimum age for admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

Announcing this on Tuesday while declaring open the 2025 Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in Abuja, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, warned that the policy is non-negotiable and must be strictly enforced.

Alausa emphasized that no institution is permitted to admit students below the stipulated age, stressing that doing so violates national policy.

“The official age of 16 set by the government is not negotiable,” he declared.

The minister cautioned institutions against bypassing the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), the unified platform for processing all tertiary admissions in Nigeria.

“Any admission conducted outside of CAPS would be illegal, and perpetrators would be prosecuted,” Alausa warned.

He added that any head of institution found to be involved in admission fraud, age manipulation, or bypassing JAMB’s CAPS process would be held accountable under the law.