Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has taken a swipe at the Federal Ministry of Education for pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions, describing it as absurd.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had said that individuals under 18 years would no longer be allowed to take part in National Examinations Council and West African Examinations Council exams.
According to Mamman, the Federal Government has directed WAEC and NECO to enforce the 18-year age requirements for candidates seeking to take their exams.
Reacting to this in a post on X Atiku said the policy belongs to the stone ages.
He wondered how such anti-scholarship regulation the next logical step in the myriads of issues besetting Nigeria’s educational system.
The statement reads, “Tinubu’s policy on age limit for tertiary education admission belongs in the Stone Ages.
“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.
