Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced on Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics” program:
“The Federal Government has declared that underage candidates will no longer be permitted to sit for secondary school leaving examinations administered by WAEC and NECO.”
Mamman emphasized:
“Both WAEC and NECO must now enforce an 18-year age limit for candidates taking the WASSCE and SSCE exams, respectively.”
He clarified:
“This is not a new policy but a reinforcement of existing regulations.”
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, stated:
“It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting with JAMB was to allow this year as a kind of notice for parents that next year, JAMB will insist that anybody applying to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.”
He clarified:
“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy; this is a policy that has been there for a long time… We are not coming up with a new policy; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing.”
Mamman explained:
“Even basically, if you compute the number of years pupils are supposed to be in school, you will end up with 17 and a half… So, we are not coming up with a new policy.”
He emphasized:
“NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations… If somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination.”
The minister also confirmed:
“The age limit for candidates taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) remains set at 18 years.”
