Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken President Bola Tinubu to task over the 18 years requirement for admission into tertiary institutions, accusing him of behaving like a lost sailor at sea.
Recall that Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had affirmed recently that the age limit for candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), administered by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), remains 18 years.
But in a reaction to the move on his X handle on Wednesday, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election said the policy on age limit for tertiary education admission belongs in the Stone Ages.
He posited that pegging the age limit is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship.
The former vice president posted: “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.”
