The Nigerian Senate has said unequivocally that the statements regarding the potential increase of the age limit to 18 years were individual perspectives.
The Senate emphasized that any changes to the age limit would require proper legislative procedures, whether they involved lowering or raising the limit.
Adeyemi Adaramodu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, confirmed this in an interview with media on Wednesday.
Recall that last week, Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, indicated that the government is considering raising the minimum age for university admission to 18 years old.
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“Comment on the minimum age requirement for admission is not a law,” the lawmaker said.
“So it is just an opinion. It’s not a law. By the time the Senate resumes, whoever wants to bring that one out to make it a law, will now bring it and then the procedures will take place.
“You can bring whatever to the floor in form of a bill. When you bring it, there’s going to be public hearing.
“All the stakeholders will sit down and talk about it. The parents, teachers, legislators, civil society organisations, even foreign organisations.
“We will sit down and talk. Even if they say that the minimum age should be 30 or 12, we will all discuss it in an open forum. So it’s still a comment which cannot be taken to be the law.”