FG: Underage candidates won’t be allowed to sit for WAEC, NECO exams in 2025

By Emmanuel Adeleke

The Federal Government has disclosed that underage candidates will no longer be permitted to take part in secondary school leaving examinations administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television programme, ‘Sunday Politics,’ on Sunday night.

He stressed that both WAEC and NECO must now enforce an 18-year age limit for candidates writing WASSCE and SSCE exams, respectively.

The minister also clarified that this is not a new policy, but a reinforcement of existing regulations.

“It is 18 years. What we did at the meeting that we had with JAMB in July was to allow this year and for it to serve as a kind of notice for parents that this year, JAMB will admit students who are below that age. But from next year, JAMB is going to insist that anybody applying to go to university in Nigeria meets the required age, which is 18.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a new policy, this is a policy that has been there for a long time.

“Even, basically if you compute the number of years pupils, and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission.

“So, we are not coming up with new policy contrary to what some people are saying; we are just simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination,” he said.

The minister also stressed that the age limit for candidates taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), is 18 years.