Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), says some tertiary institutions in Nigeria were found to have illegally admitted candidates as young as 10 and 12.
The minimum age requirement for admission to universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education was previously set at eighteen by the ministry of education. Oloyede, during JAMB’s policy meeting in Abuja, spoke on why it became necessary to adopt a minimum age for admissions.
He claimed that outside of JAMB’s central admission processing system, some universities had accepted applicants as young as 12 and 10. (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 claimed that the student was found when they tried to pursue a postgraduate degree in Germany. It was documented that the student enrolled in the university at the age of 12 and graduated at the age of 15. According to Oloyede, the student tried to apply for a scholarship grant from the European Union, but the organization got in touch with the board to confirm the student’s eligibility.
“The candidate applied for a postgraduate scholarship under Erasmus Mundus. The body found it strange that the candidate’s date of birth was 2007,” he said.
Based on her passport, she enrolled in a Nigerian university at the age of twelve and completed her studies there at the age of fifteen. The selection committee contacted Nigeria to confirm whether the candidate studied at a university. The EU asked if it was possible to graduate candidates at such a young age.”
Oloyede said such cases could negatively affect the perception of the larger pool of degrees awarded by Nigerian tertiary institutions. “In the next two to three years, the EU could tighten its requirements and all graduates of Nigerian universities would suffer it,” he said.
We discovered that the candidate was not accepted by JAMB because she was not of legal age. The university admitted and registered the candidate. I couldn’t respond to the EU because I was embarrassed. I didn’t know what to write. The vice-chancellor foolishly acknowledged that although the student was enrolled in the school, they were not the VC at that particular moment.
Oloyede stated during the policy meeting that JAMB was concerned about the significant number of candidates who were underage participating in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). “The university and the education system are suffering serious harm due to the enrollment of underage candidates,” he continued.
