16-years age requirement for university admission unchanged, says Senate

The Nigerian Senate has waded into the controversy generated by the statement credited to the Minister of Education, Professor Tahiru Mamman that the Federal Government is considering changing the minimum age requirement for university admission from 16 to 18 years.

The Senate has now said the current age requirement of 16 years will remain in place until the National Assembly conducts a legislative review of the existing law relating to the issue.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Adeyemi Adaramodu, provided the clarification in an interview with journalists on Wednesday.

Adaramodu emphasized that the remarks on raising the minimum age requirement to 18 are personal opinions, adding that any proposed change must pass through appropriate legislative channels.

Sen. Adaramodu said, “Comments on the minimum age requirement for admission is not a law. So it is just an opinion. It’s not a law. By the time the Senate resumes, whoever wants to bring that one out to make it a law will now bring it and then the procedures will take place.

“You can bring whatever to the floor in the form of a bill. When you bring it, there’s going to be a public hearing.

“All the stakeholders will sit down and talk about it. The parents, teachers, legislators, civil society organisations, and even foreign organisations.

“We will sit down and we talk. Even if they say that the minimum age should be 30 or 12 we will all discuss it at an open forum. So it’s still a comment which cannot be taken to be the law,” Adaramodu clarified.