In the race to enter the university early, age has become one of the most contested issues in Nigeria’s education system. While many parents celebrate children who complete secondary school at remarkably young ages, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board says admission should not be determined by academic performance alone, insisting that maturity is equally critical.
Defending the 16-year minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions, the board said the policy is backed by existing education laws and years of evidence linking maturity to academic success.
JAMB’s Public Communication Adviser, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made the position known on Thursday during a dialogue organised by the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria via Zoom.
The dialogue, themed “2026 Admission Policy Review and JAMB Scorecard: A Conversation with the Registrar,” examined key issues surrounding admissions and tertiary education in Nigeria, including renewed calls for a review of the admission age benchmark.
Benjamin explained that the age requirement was not arbitrarily introduced but was rooted in the National Policy on Education, the Universal Basic Education framework and Nigeria’s 6-3-3-4 education system.
“We didn’t just wake up one night and say it must be 16 years. If you go back and look at the National Council on Education decisions, the Universal Basic Education Commission Act and the National Policy on Education, you will see clearly defined age expectations for primary, secondary and university education,” he said.
According to him, JAMB’s position is informed by years of monitoring admission processes and student performance across tertiary institutions.
“We operate a system whereby after every admission exercise, we go back to the drawing board and assess the entire process. We look at where the challenges are and come up with policies to address them.
“We have seen over and over again that age continues to play a major role. Beyond academics, education is a serious enterprise. Maturity plays a significant role in who you are, what you want to achieve and how you achieve it,” he added.
Benjamin, however, noted that the policy makes room for exceptionally gifted candidates who demonstrate outstanding academic abilities.
“Yes, there are people with peculiar cognitive abilities. That is why there is an exception for gifted candidates. Such candidates must attain a particular threshold of performance before they can be considered for admission below the prescribed age,” he said.
He explained that the exception was designed to ensure that genuinely gifted children were not denied opportunities to advance academically.
“We do not want to exclude gifted children. If a candidate demonstrates that he or she belongs to that category, the person will be given the opportunity.
“Even in other countries, when you see a professor at a very young age, it is because the individual demonstrated exceptional ability. But that does not mean every 12-year-old can simply gain admission into a university,” he said.
Benjamin also recounted a case in which a foreign university queried the academic credentials of a Nigerian student because of the student’s age.
“We had a situation where a university in London wrote to us regarding a candidate seeking admission for a master’s degree at a particular age. They were surprised and wanted us to explain the policy we were operating because they considered it impossible to have attained such qualifications at that age.
“We responded and explained the circumstances, and the university was shocked,” he said.
He maintained that the age policy would continue to guide admissions while allowing room for exceptional cases.
“If, in the future, any institution asks questions about a candidate admitted below the prescribed age, we can explain that the candidate demonstrated exceptional capacity and met the requirements set for gifted students,” Benjamin said.
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