Ismaila Biliaminu Manne
Ndi Kato, Minority Rights Activist and the Executive Director of Dinidari Africa, retweeted that Nigeria’s decision makers are wicked, as a reaction to the publication of Vanguard Newspaper about JAMB Registrar warning universities to stop underaged admission, on her verified X account, formally Twitter.
The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, warned tertiary institutions especially universities to stop admissions of underaged aspiring students, describing the act as “illegal,” at the seventh biennial conference of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria:
Oloyede cited that at the conference, themed; “Effective University Governance: Role of Stakeholders,” held in Lagos, on Tuesday, 9th July 2024.
He stressed that illegal admission such as admitting minors needed to be aborted for the sake of accountability, data protection, and integrity of the nation, the act needed to stop because anything that was “irregular was illegal”.
According to Vanguard Newspaper, Oloyede said “About two months ago, I received a letter from a European country to confirm if a student actually graduated from a particular university because she is 15 years old and applied for a postgraduate course.” Noting that the question they asked me was ‘Is this possible in Nigeria?’
“I had to call the Vice Chancellor of the institution and he confirmed the student graduated from the university but was not admitted by JAMB.
“He had to include that he was not the VC at the time the student was admitted,” Oloyede said.
Oloyede furthered that state-owned universities must do a lot of development in situations like that because they dominated more in number than federal universities.
He also expressed that “illegal admission of diploma students needs to stop because last year, we admitted 9,000 diploma students; I was alarmed that about 3,000 students came from a particular university.
“Everyone of us should be accountable because all these acts can damage our education system,” Oloyede implored.
However, Ndi Kato expressed her dissatisfaction in a retweet about the development. “Too young for university but old enough for marriage, childbirth, and child rearing. Nigeria’s decision makers are very wicked,” She wrote.
More Netizens React
A netizen with X username, @JusticeChannel1: MC Ugwummadu, commented that “Nigeria is good at fussing over irrelevant things while glossing over the relevant. Imagine a country where 7 years old children from the north have PVCs, where 8years old girls are pregnant for their husbands, but, govt wants to stop brilliant kids from graduating early.”
Another netizen, Opara Nwachukwuisiocha, cautioned the JAMB Registrar and others, to stop degrading Nigeria.
He narrated: “You people should stop taking Nigerians backwards when the world is moving forward. There is nothing this people won’t do to hold Nigerians down.
“Child marriage takes place in Nigeria, underage voting takes place, but underage education is their problem. What a country,” he wrote.
Like Ndi Kato, MC Ugwummadu, and Opara Nwachukwuisiocha. Several netizens are questioning the registrar on what about child marriage? And Underaged with registered PVC, among others.
