Janet Samuel, Abuja
The Federal Government, in collaboration with major stakeholders in the education sector, has set the 2024/2025 admission cut-off marks for Nigerian universities at 140 and above in the UTME, to ensure a uniform admission process.
A minimum cut-off point of 100 was also announced for polytechnics and Colleges of Education (CoEs).
The cut-off mark, for 2024 admission into tertiary institutions was arrived at on Thursday at the 2024 annual policy meeting, in Abuja, following the successful conduct of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who made the announcement said that no university, polytechnics and colleges of education should admit candidates less than the agreed minimum cut-off requirements, adding that each institution should only take in students according to their individual cut-off marks submitted to JAMB.
Oloyode urged institutions to adhere strictly to their various admission requirement stipulated in the Central Admissions Processing Systems (CAPS).
Meanwhile, in a move to standardize admission processes, the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman has pledged to enforce a law requiring a minimum age of 18 for entry into tertiary education institutions.”
He however, said the enforcement would commence after the 2025 UTME in order not to affect candidates who sat for this year’s exam, as they were not informed of the development before registering for the JAMB exam.
“Information has revealed that the enrolment of underage candidates is inflicting serious damage on the university and the education system, hence, the need for enforcement of extant rules.
“When I was monitoring the just concluded 2024 UTME, I was alarmed at the participation of a large number of obviously under-age candidates in the examination.
“This necessitated my comment on the need to enforce the extant provisions of the educational policies which made provision for nine years of basic education and three years of Senior Secondary Education before entry into tertiary institution”.
