THE federal government has reversed the 18-year-age limits implemented for candidates to be eligible to take the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations.

According to the minister of state for education, Yusuf Sununu at an event to mark the 2024 International Literacy Day in Abuja on Friday, September, 6, the government did not place an age restriction on candidates sitting for the exams.

He claimed that the comment by the minister of education, Tahir Mamman, was misinterpreted, adding that the ministry has not stopped students who are not up to 18 years old from taking the examination.

“Nobody said no child will write WAEC, NECO, or any other examination unless at age 18. This is a misconception and misrepresentation of what we have said,” he said.

He noted that the minister of education was speaking on the 18 years of entry age into the tertiary institutions as practiced in the 6:3:3:4 system of education.

He added that the ministry is working on creating guidelines for identifying very smart children for admission into universities before they turn 18.

“We have agreed that we are going to consider it as a work-in-progress. The national assembly is working and we are also working. It was shocking to say that a university in this country gave admission to children at ages 10, 11 and 12 years. This is totally wrong.

“We are not saying that there are no exceptions, we know we can have talented students that have the IQ of an adult even at age 6 and 7, but these are very few. There must be a rule, and the ministry is looking at developing a guideline on how to identify a talented child so that parents don’t say we are blocking their children’s chances,” he said.

THE ICIR reports that the FG had instructed WAEC and NECO to implement an existing policy requiring candidates to be at least 18 years old to take the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), respectively.

He added that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination also maintains an 18-year age limit for candidates and further explained that the minimum age requirement for university admission in Nigeria must be 18 years.