The Federal Government (FG) has reversed its decision to limit the admission age for tertiary institutions at 18 years. This was disclosed on Tuesday by the newly appointed Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, during his maiden news conference in Abuja.
He said, ““We will work with JAMB and our universities to ensure that people that are matriculating into our universities will arrive at 16 years.
“So, we will not be going with the 18 years; we will go back to what we have before which is 16 years.”
Addressing the withdrawal of certificates obtained from tertiary institutions in Benin Republic and Togo, he said the policy would remain in place, adding that it was aimed at eliminating fake certificates in order to maintain the academic standards of Nigeria.
Regarding the reduction of the amount of out-of-school children, he disclosed that his ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs “to provide conditional cash transfers as incentives for students to increase school enrollment.”