Court Halts JAMB’s Restriction On Underage Students

The Delta State High Court in Warri has issued an order restraining the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board from implementing its recent policy requiring a minimum admissible age of 16 years for university admissions in the country pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed against the board.

JAMB, in a statement on October 16, stated that only candidates who will be 16 years old by August 2025 would be admitted to tertiary institutions.

This directive was a follow up to the new policy that the ministry of education introduced which states the adoption of 18 years as the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions.

JAMB, however, made an exception for students seeking admission in the 2024/2025 session.

Dissatisfied with JAMB’s directive, John Aikpokpo-Martins, a former Nigerian Bar Association chairman, Warri branch, dragged the admission board to court.

The sole applicant, Aikpokpo-Martins (for and on behalf of all candidates born on the 1st of September 2009 to the 31st December, 2009, who wrote and passed JAMB exams in 2024), in a suit marked W/311/FHR/2021, sued JAMB and Edwin Clark University as 1st and 2nd respondents respectively.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, Justice Anthony Akpovi granted all the reliefs sought by the applicant, as confirmed by a Certified True Copy (CTC)