Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of Nigeria, says the new policy of Tinubu’s administration pegging university admission age to 18 years belongs to the stone age.
Atiku made this observation in in a post on X handle on Wednesday while reacting to the Minister of Education, Tahir Mohammed’s announcement that students below the age of 18 years would no longer be given admission to Nigerian universities.
Atiku described the policy as an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship, adding that the policy runs afoul the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a Federal System of Government.
He said that states should be allowed to make their respective rules on education.
Atiku wrote: “The recent policy of the Federal Ministry of Education pegging age limits for entry to tertiary institutions is an absurdity and a disincentive to scholarship.
“The policy runs afoul of the notion of delineation of responsibilities in a Federal System of Government such as we are practising and gives a graphic impression of how the Tinubu government behaves like a lost sailor on a high sea.
“Otherwise, how is such anti-scholarship regulation the next logical step in the myriad of issues besetting our educational system?
“To be clear, the Nigerian constitution puts education in the concurrent list of schedules, in which the sub-national government enjoys more roles above the Federal Government.
“Therefore, it is extra-constitutional for the federal government to legislate on education in a manner similar to a decree.
“The best global standard for such regulation is to allow the sub-national governments to make respective laws or rules on education.
“It is discouraging that even while announcing this obnoxious policy, the government inadvertently said it had no plan to cater for specially gifted pupils. That statement is an embarrassment to the body of intellectuals in the country, because, it portrays Nigeria as a country where gifted students are not appreciated.
“The irony here is that should the Federal Government play any role in education, it is to set up mechanisms that will identify and grant scholarships to gifted students not minding their ages before applying for admission into tertiary institutions.
“This controversial policy belongs in the Stone Ages and should be roundly condemned by everyone who believes in intellectual freedom and accessibility,” Atiku said.