FG Sets 16 Years as Official Minimum Age for University Admission in Nigeria!

The federal government has now set the minimum age for admission into Nigeria’s higher education institutions at 16 years, a decision aimed at promoting academic readiness and maturity among applicants.

During the 2025 Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Tuesday in Abuja, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa made the announcement.

Alausa stated that this new age requirement is designed to align students’ cognitive development with the demands of higher education, emphasizing that 16 years is the definitive age limit for admissions into universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education nationwide.

“There has been considerable discussion regarding the age for entry into tertiary institutions, but our stance is unequivocal. The official entry age for admission into tertiary institutions is now set at 16 years. It has been changed from 18, which was set to be implemented for this year’s process, to ensure compliance with this new requirement.

“This policy reflects a balance of cognitive maturity and academic readiness. The admission age of 16 years is fixed and non-negotiable. Institutions are instructed to ensure strict adherence to this regulation,” he remarked.

However, he did point out that exceptions could be made for exceptionally gifted children who have shown advanced academic abilities for their age group. Such exceptional cases, he stressed, must be properly recorded and justified for consideration.

The minister also issued a strong warning to tertiary institutions against altering applicants’ age records to bypass the directive.

He noted that institutions found guilty of falsifying age records would face consequences, although details of the penalties were not specified.

“We acknowledge that there may be a small number of exceptional situations, and provisions are made for legitimate exceptions, particularly for gifted children or those who have progressed rapidly in their education.

“Nevertheless, this must be validated and documented, and it needs to be justified.

“The ministry is resolute in its determination, and any attempts to undermine this policy by modifying age records will lead to penalties,” the minister asserted.

Additionally, JAMB has reported a significant improvement in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with 80.69% of candidates achieving scores of 160 and higher, marking the best performance in the last six years.

This information was presented through JAMB’s comparative performance statistics, illustrating the percentage of candidates reaching key score thresholds from 2018 to 2025.

According to the 2025 figures, out of 1,945,395 candidates who took the exam, 29.45% scored 200 and above, reflecting an increase from the 24.33% in 2024 and a stark contrast to the 12.17% recorded in 2022.

In total, 80.69% achieved scores of 160 and above, which is the highest percentage since 2018, when merely 74.39% of candidates reached that level.

Furthermore, 97.76% scored 140 and higher, up from 95.59% in 2024 and 90.67% in 2019. Additionally, 99.91% scored 100 and above, continuing the trend of high performance observed in recent years.

Only 0.09% of candidates scored below 100, representing one of the lowest failure rates recorded in the exam’s recent history.