Stakeholders attending the 2024 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) policy conference were shocked when Minister of Education Prof Mamman Tahir declared that candidates seeking admission to higher education must be 18 or older.

The crowd screamed "no, no, no" as soon as the Minister made the comment in his address and policy directive, but Tahir argued that it is already a policy that the government has embraced because candidates are expected to be much more mature at the age of 18.

He stated that if someone was dissatisfied, they could possibly petition the National Assembly for an amendment.

The JAMB policy meeting is an annual event that brings together stakeholders from the country's various tertiary institutions to decide on suitable cut-off marks for admissions in the current academic year.

Recall that Mamman previously condemned a situation in which students enrol in institutions of higher learning yet succumb to negative vices due to their lack of maturity.

Details will be provided later.