JAMB reacts to allege age limit by ministry of education

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, says some tertiary institutions in Nigeria were found to have illegally admitted candidates as young as 10 and 12.

The ministry of education earlier pegged the minimum age for university, polytechnic, & college of education admissions at 18. Oloyede, during JAMB’s policy meeting in Abuja, spoke on why it became necessary to adopt a minimum age for admissions.

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He said some universities had admitted candidates as young as 12 and 10 outside JAMB’s central admission processing system (CAPS). Oloyede cited the case of a Nigerian institution he did not name and a postgraduate applicant who was looking to study in Germany.

He said the student, documented to have enrolled in the university at 12 to graduate at 15, was discovered after they attempted to pursue a postgraduate degree in Germany.

Oloyede said the European Union, whose scholarship grant the student attempted to apply for, had contacted the board to verify the student’s credentials.