FG sets 16 years as minimum age for varsity admission 
The Federal Government has set 16 years as the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.
Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, stated this on Tuesday, when he declared open the 2025 Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in Abuja.
Alausa said that the policy was non-negotiable and must be strictly enforced, saying that no institution was permitted to admit students below the stipulated age, stressing that doing so violates national policy.
“The official age of 16 set by the government is not negotiable,” he stated.
The minister cautioned institutions against bypassing the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS), the unified platform for processing all tertiary admissions in Nigeria.
“Any admission conducted outside of CAPS would be illegal, and perpetrators would be prosecuted,” Alausa said.
He added that any head of institution found to be involved in admission fraud, age manipulation, or bypassing JAMB’s CAPS process would be held accountable under the law.
