Skip to main content

Tinubu’s 18-Year-Old Policy For WAEC, NECO, JAMB Belongs To Stone Age – Atiku

Tinubu’s 18-Year-Old Policy For WAEC, NECO, JAMB Belongs To Stone Age – Atiku

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has said the 18 years policy of President Bola Tinubu as the age limit to write secondary school leaving examinations and enter tertiary institutions in Nigeria belongs to the Stone Age,

FocalPoint News reported that the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, announced that students below the age of 18 years would no longer be allowed to write the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and Unified Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exams.

Atiku in his reaction, said the policy is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship. He added that the policy runs foul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a federal system of government.

In a statement on Wednesday, Atiku explained that states should be allowed to make respective rules on education.

The recent policy of the Federal Ministry of Education pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship.

“The policy runs foul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a federal system of government such as we are pratising, and gives a graphic impression of how the Tinubu government behaves like a lost sailor on a high sea. Otherwise, how is such anti-scholarship regulation the next logical step in the myriad of issues besetting our educational system?

To be clear, the Nigerian constitution puts education in the concurrent list of schedules, in which the sub-national government enjoys more roles above the federal government.

“Therefore, it is extra-constitutional for the federal government to legislate on education in a manner similar to a decree.

“The best global standard for such regulation is to allow the sub-national governments to make respective laws or rules on education.

“It is discouraging that even while announcing this obnoxious policy, the government inadvertently said it had no plan to cater for specially gifted pupils. That statement is an embarrassment to the body of intellectuals in the country because it portrays Nigeria as a country where gifted students are not appreciated.

“The irony here is that should the federal government play any role in education, it is to set up mechanisms that will identify and grant scholarships to gifted students not minding their ages before applying for admission into tertiary institutions.

“This controversial policy belongs in the Stone Ages and should be roundly condemned by everyone who believes in intellectual freedom and accessibility,” Atiku wrote on his X handle.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Breaking: ASUU suspends 2-week warning strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has suspended its two-week warning strike it declared last week across all public universities in the country. The union announced the suspension on Wednesday at a press conference held at its headquarters in Abuja. President of ASUU, Chris Piwuna, who read a prepared speech before newsmen, explained that the development followed intervention by the Senate and some other well-meaning Nigerians. However, he sad the National Executive Council of the Union resolved to give the government a one-month window to address all contending areas.

JUST IN: If Tinubu Had Told Me, I Wouldn’t Have Agreed To Rivers State Of Emergency Rule – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has stated that he would not have agreed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu if he had discussed his move to declare a State of Emergency in Rivers State. Wike noted that he is not in conflict with the suspended Rivers State Governor,      Sim Fubara  He stressed his opposition on the State of Emergency rule, stating that only the President knows the right time to lift it. While speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday, Wike remarked that Fubara has permitted himself to be manipulated by his adversaries to oppose him. The FCT Minister said: “ I made it clear that this impunity will not stand, so what is happening in PDP is what I call undertakers because I see no reason why you will put yourself under that kind of crisis. “I don’t have any crisis with him (Fubara). I’m not the President who declared a State of Emergency; if Mr President had called me, I wouldn’t have agreed to the State of Emergenc...

Woman Burned to Death, Accused of Kidnapping 7yrs Old Boy in Delta

By Tessy ogbemi An angry mob set ablaze a woman accused in a failed child kidnapping attempt in Agbarho community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.  The incident happened on Wednesday, September 24, 2025.  An eyewitness disclosed at the scene of the incident at Ekwvere Road claimed that the woman hid the seven year old boy she allegedly abducted in a sack, adding that she was even carrying a Bible on one hand.  Community sources said some residents in the area accosted the lady when they observed the way she was dragging the sack, to know what she had in it.  "She was unstable when they asked her to disclose what she was carrying in the sack. When the bag was forced open, they found a seven year old child in it. They shouted and it attracted a large crowd,” a source said.  It was gathered that the angry mob immediately brought a used tyre to the scene, which they forced down her neck after beating her to a pulp.  “The lady and the tyre we...