Candidates under 18 will no longer take WAEC, NECO exams — Minister

The Federal Government has announced that individuals under the age of 18 will no longer be allowed to participate in the National Examinations Council (NECO) and West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exams.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, disclosed this when he appeared on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme on Sunday night. He clarified that the government has directed WAEC and NECO to strictly enforce the age requirement for candidates taking these exams.

According to Mamman, the policy is not new but has been in place for some time. He further emphasized that the age limit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), also remains set at 18 years.

Mamman reiterated that both NECO and WAEC will no longer permit underage students to sit for their exams, stressing that candidates must have completed the requisite years of study before being allowed to write the examinations.

He said, “It is 18 (years). What we did at the meeting we had with JAMB (in July) was to allow this year 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 a 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.”