This was stated in a board circular that was seen by SaharaReporters and distributed to postsecondary educational institutions.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has granted permission for kids who will turn 16 by August 2025 to be admitted to postsecondary educational institutions.

The board informed tertiary institutions of this through a circular.

Mohammed A. Babaji, Director of Admissions at JAMB, signed the directive.

“Admission Of Candidates With Minimum Admissible Age Of 16 Years” is the title of the circular.

The text says, “Recall that the 2024 Policy Meeting discussed and determined that 16 years old would be the minimum age for admission in the country’s higher institutions for the 2024–2025 academic year. The deadline was subsequently extended to December 31, 2024.

The Board is aware that several schools anticipate that the 2024–2025 admission period will extend until July 2025 for various reasons.

“The Board has now decided to allow any willing institution to admit candidates who will be 16 years old by August 31, 2025, provided that the standards set by the institution qualify such a candidate, who could not be admitted solely due to

This does not change the sacrosanct minimum age of 16 years old that each institution may have independently determined upon.

Due to this development, it is required that you extract and submit the list of 16-year-old applicants who fall within the eligibility window for admission (if any) from your CAPS as soon as possible, preferably within a week of this letter’s date, in order to allow for a final decision.

It further stated that the action is being taken to guarantee fairness for universities whose admittance would continue till August 2025.

According to the statement, “This attempt is to assure fairness since there would be no undue favouritism towards individuals whose 2024 entrance would extend until August 2025.

“Any institution is entirely free to insist that its 16 years take place in 2024.”

The Nigerian government recently declared that 18 was the minimum age required for applicants to be admitted into the nation, which incited controversy.

The nation’s minister of education, Tahir Mamman, had declared that applicants to universities, polytechnics, and education institutes had to be at least eighteen years old.