Former member of the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Chukwudi Apugo, in this interview, faults the recent policy by the Federal Government jerking up the age limit for admission into tertiary institutions to 18 years, describing it as anti-people.

By Steve Oko

What is your take on the recent policy by the Education Minister jerking up the age limit for admission into tertiary institutions to 18 years?

For me, that policy is ill-advised and anti-people. It is retrogressive and may not have any positive impacts on education system. In fact, it may do more harm than good to the system. The Education sector is so crucial that you don’t introduce inimical or retrogressive policies into it, otherwise, you will be jeopardizing the future of our children.

Even if you may have to introduce such a policy, it should not be automatic. You give some years to sensitise and convince the stakeholders on its desirability. I’m not sure they considered the fate of some students who will be graduating from Secondary School at age 16 now. What do they expect such ones to do? Maybe idle away for two years at home and waiting to clock 18 before they will start seeking admission into the university? That doesn’t sound logical. This policy, regrettably, will interrupt the education and academic trajectory of our youths.

Why will the Minister even contemplate such a retrogressive policy? How is the age of students seeking admission into tertiary institutions the only headache of education sector? It’s only in Nigeria that children are married at age 12 but not allowed to go to university at age 15 under the pretext of underage.

What do you consider the adverse implications of the policy?

The adverse implications of the policy are much. The mental trauma on intelligent students who have already met all the requisite requirements for admission into the university at the age of 15/16 years is much. Some of these children score over 300 in JAMB with excellent O’Level results. Some make up to nine or eight Alphas in WAEC even at such a young age. What then is the justice in denying such brilliant students admission into the university on the basis of age while admitting older ones with lower grades?

Do you know that this kind of policy can lead some of these children into joining internet frauds or other criminal gangs while waiting for extra two or three years to reach the minimum age limit for admission into the university? Some may never continue with their education career when they taste easy money from ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ or other get-rich quick means.

So, I call on Mr President to quickly intervene and call the Minister to order. There are so many challenges in the education sector that we expect him to address. Age limit for admission into tertiary institutions is certainly not one of them. Mr President should quickly intervene to avoid chaos in the education system and society at large. This policy should be suspended. I don’t see it bringing any desirable solution to the array of problems bedeviling the education sector

But do you think the Minister should have had his way without the approval of the Minister?

I’m not sure Mr President was properly briefed on the implications of this toxic policy. I suspect the President was deceived. The question is: what interest is this policy going to serve? Is it national or parochial interest? What is the real motive? Was it borne out of patriotism or is any group being targeted? These questions beg for sincere answers.

For me, age should not be used as a barrier to our brilliant teenagers seeking admission into tertiary institutions in this age of global competition. I don’t consider underage a challenge to our education sector because even students at the age of 15 and 16 have posted superlative academic records both in O’Level and Unified Matriculation Examination (UME) conducted by the Joint Admissions Matriculation (Board JAMB).

Importantly, I don’t think the proponents of this policy took into accounts the issue of incessant strike actions plaguing our university system. It is unfortunate that due to constant disruptions by strike, even those who got university admission at the age of 19 spend extra two or three years before they graduate. Then imagine what becomes the fate of students when they begin to sit for O’Level at the age of 18, before beginning to talk of JAMB. Don’t also forget that some students sit for these exams up to three or more times before even getting the minimum requirements that could fetch them admission into tertiary institutions. Then guess what will be the age of our youths before getting into the university and graduating, then facing the issue of job. Why should Government add to their burdens through ill-advised policy?

I want to draw the attention of the Federal Government to what is happening now regarding these admission seekers below 16 years. The universities are denying them admission claiming that JAMB has not released their results to them. The issue then is: why will JAMB collect money from them when it saw their age and allow them sit for its exam which they scored very high and now refuse to release their results to universities? Why will they sit for WAEC and score high marks and be denied admission on the basis of age? The Federal Government said the new policy would not affect those who had already written last UTME and SSCE but they should find out what is happening now at the universities. These candidates numbering millions are being denied admission now. The Federal Government should intervene immediately because these candidates are passing through mental trauma and depression.

In fact, I don’t know what the Minister seeks to achieve by introducing this policy at this time our country is passing through a lot of hardship and economic trauma. It is adding to the problem of parents.

Part of the excuse by those in favour of the policy was that some underaged students in tertiary institutions find it difficult to cope with academic workload. Do you not consider that cogent enough?

No. I don’t consider that a sufficient excuse to stop intelligent students below 18 years from gaining university admission. The university system has a way of taking care of undergraduates who are not coping. By the way, has the Minister not seen the so -called underaged who are breaking academic records? Is it only those not coping that are seen?

Do you think that the National Assembly has done enough or should have taken any action to checkmate the Minister?

Unfortunately, the National Assembly hasn’t done anything to stop the implementation of this anti-people policy. It’s quite appalling that the same National Assembly has time to be talking about or inviting ‘Bobriscky’ and ‘VeryDarkMan’, while a national issue like this has not been given the needed legislative attention.

The National Assembly should not abdicate its oversight functions. It should not be passive while such a policy is being forced down the throat of Nigerians. I want the members to wade in and save the situation. They should hold townhall meeting with their constituents to gauge their opinions and the opinions of stakeholders in the education sector before allowing the implementation of this policy.

I also want State Governments to wade in because education is in the concurrent list. The Federal Government alone should not be allowed to formulate all the policies in the sector. That was how somebody in the past, in a very controversial way, removed history from primary and secondary schools’ curriculum. Today, I don’t know how much we, as a country, have benefited from such a suspicious policy.

The constitution provides that a child should have right to education. Why should we now use policy or age limit to rob the child of his right to education. Some of them may lose interest in education if you place such a barrier before them. Children should be allowed to continue with their academic pursuit as long as their head can carry it.

What is your advice to parents, and what do you consider the way forward ?

Parents should not keep quiet but rise against this through engagement with Government and relevant stakeholders. I also appeal to the Ministry of Education to listen to the arguments against the policy and see reasons to review it in the best interest of the country.