A notable achievement of this year’s Policy meeting of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is the consensus on the minimum cut-off mark for admissions into tertiary institutions countrywide. While the meeting marked a concerted effort to harmonise and stabilise issues of admission, the nagging issues of autonomy and maintenance of education standards remain on the burner, with some stakeholders expressing concern about the continued necessity for JAMB’s intervention on admission. It would appear that JAMB must continually be on its wits’ end to counter desperate measures from students and sometimes, their parents, to obtain admission by means less than honest, even outright fraudulent.
The demand for autonomy by universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions again came to the fore at the 2025 stakeholders’ Policy Meeting, where university vice-chancellors and heads of polytechnics and colleges of Education parleyed with the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board and the Federal Ministry of Education on 2025/2026 admissions.
While consensus was forged by the parties on what was the appropriate minimum cut-off mark for 2025/26, there are issues of standards and the need for more autonomy for schools to decide their admissions.
However, the controversy over admission age seems to have been finally resolved, as the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, pegged the minimum admission age for admission into tertiary institutions at 16 years. The issue had generated controversy following the previous 18-year stipulation, which many stakeholders disagreed with.
Disclosing the new age, Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, emphasised that the decision is aimed at aligning students’ cognitive development with the academic demands of higher education. “This policy decision reflects a balance between cognitive maturity and academic preparedness. 16 years is non-negotiable,” he said. He, however, acknowledged that exceptions could be made for gifted students who have advanced academically ahead of their age group. But such cases, he said, must be clearly documented and justified. Many stakeholders believe that this position is more in tandem with international best practice.
Notably, JAMB and the stakeholders raised the cut-off mark from 140 in the previous admission year to 150 for universities, 140 for Colleges of Nursing and 100 for polytechnics and Colleges of Education, igniting hope, even though it raised some dust. This year’s higher benchmark, JAMB’s Prof. Ishaq Oloyede and the Education minister, Dr Alausa insisted, is based on the need to maintain higher standards for the country’s tertiary institutions. It is important that, amidst the complexities of admission processes, conscious measures should be taken to make the country’s higher institutions relevant and competitive in the global community. Already, it is generally considered that the standard has fallen.
To seek improvement in standards, the entry stage is a place to focus on. A careful look at JAMB’s cut-off requirements in recent years suggests a lowering of standards, even though individual institutions have introduced other layers of vetting to ensure excellence. The challenge is that only a handful of schools are able to stay far above the minimum cut-off. Others are tempted to make do with what they have.
There is food for thought in the analysis of the Rector, Abia College of Health Sciences and Management Technology, Okezie Aloy, indicating that the Nigerian education system has nosedived. He said: “If you go by the cut-off mark for universities, 150 means you scored less than 50 marks for each of the four subjects, which is less than 50 per cent, while 100 for polytechnics means 25 marks in each subject, which is not a pass mark. It is sad that we have left what should be looked into to discuss numbers. We regret to say that the Nigerian education system is falling. You go to university, it’s an embarrassment. You come to polytechnic; you’re challenged. The people you admit with this number, what would they do? Many don’t know how to write their names.”
According to JAMB, a total of 2,030,627 candidates were registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), of which 1,955.069 actually took the examination. Over 1.5 million candidates scored below 200, a clear indication of falling standards.
However, the loads of problems befuddling the tertiary admission process in the country remain a problem despite JAMB’s filtering mechanism. Parents and candidates have demonstrated a propensity to be desperate in the bid to score high marks by hook or crook. There had been a tendency, even by some JAMB officials, to aid and abet malpractices, including financial crimes. Though now minimised, it is still a cause for concern.
There is also the worry regarding JAMB’s continued capacity to manage the staggering numbers, with some advocating for decentralisation to avoid geopolitical tensions that are now associated with the examination. While JAMB’s policing efforts to stem fraudulent admission have been undeniable, centralised admission processing may need to be subjected to greater scrutiny, more so with arguments that Nigeria is a federation. Stakeholders should not feel shy to interrogate the process if it will raise standards and improve the nation’s education.
The fact that universities and other tertiary institutions still write their own screening examinations in addition to JAMB suggests a duplication that must find harmonisation at some point. Reduction of costs and bureaucracies should be a prime consideration.
Universities should also up the ante on their levels of transparency and accountability to qualify them for autonomy. Many of them are not accountable and cannot be trusted with simple tasks such as admission.
The government should stay consistent and committed to matters of standards and policies. Policy flip-flop and poor funding are major challenges for education in the country. The JAMB and other stakeholders should not be distracted from giving Nigeria’s tertiary institutions the quality and enviable status they deserve.
