SAHARA REPORTERS
Prof Is-haq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has accused several Nigerian universities of accepting students as young as ten years old.
Oloyede who mentioned this while giving an annual report about the body’s activities said majority of Nigerian tertiary instructions had been violating laws regarding age limit for potential admission seekers.
He said, “Whereas 18years is the issue, but UNILAG, OAU will not accept anybody who is not 16. Some of you will admit even 10. Look at this case, underage admission, a case of university in Germany. A candidate applied for a master’s degree at a university in Germany. She then applied for the Erasmus Scholarship programme, it is EU program. She applied for a post graduate scholarship.
“The country found it strange that a candidate was born in 2007 and on her passport she started university when she was 12 years. The selection committee contacted Nigeria to confirm indeed if the candidate studied at the university and graduated at the age of 15 in Nigeria. The EU was asking us whether this is possible at that young age. And you know the implication? I can bet it with you in the next two to three years, they will tighten the issue. Graduates of Nigerian universities will have to suffer one humiliation or the other,” Oloyede added.
The examination body had earlier established a cut-off mark of 140 for admission to universities, while the minimum cut-off point for admission to polytechnics and colleges of education has been set at 100.
This announcement was made by JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, on Thursday in Abuja during the 2024 Policy meeting of JAMB.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, as well as vice-chancellors, rectors, registrars of higher institutions, and other stakeholders.
