Chinaemere Opara: 15-year-old sues Education Ministry, JAMB, NUC over admission policy

Master Chinaemere Opara has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Ministry of Education, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and the National Universities Commission (NUC) over a newly introduced admission policy.

The 15-year-old Senior Secondary School (SSS) student filed the suit through his father and legal guardian, Mr. Maxwell Opara, at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1512/2024 and filed on Oct. 14 by Wayne Elijah, lists the Ministry, JAMB, and NUC as the first, second, and third respondents, respectively.

In his suit, the student is seeking six reliefs, including a declaration that the policy setting a minimum age for university admission is discriminatory and unconstitutional. He argues that it violates his rights to freedom of expression, as protected under Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and several articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Opara also asked the court to declare that his right to peaceful assembly and association should not be limited by the policy, and that restricting his age for university admission violates his right to equal access to public services, guaranteed under the African Charter.

He further sought an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the respondents from interfering with his rights, as well as an order to set aside the policy.

In the affidavit, Maxwell Opara, Chinaemere’s father, explained that his son, a Senior Secondary 2 student at Sure Start Secondary School, is directly affected by the policy. He stated that the policy impedes his son’s right to education and freedom from age discrimination. He added that Chinaemere had read in the news that the Ministry of Education had declared that no one under the age of 16 would be admitted to any university, regardless of academic brilliance.

The affidavit noted that Chinaemere plans to enter Senior Secondary 3 in the 2024/2025 academic session and aims to take the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO), and JAMB exams in 2025, with hopes of gaining university admission in the 2025/2026 session to study Medicine and Surgery.

Maxwell Opara emphasized that no Nigerian law explicitly sets an age limit for university admission, and the new policy undermines his son’s right to education, despite his academic potential.

The case is yet to be assigned to a judge at the time of this report.

NAN also reported that in July, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced that starting in 2025, candidates under 18 would not be eligible to sit for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, a requirement for admission to higher institutions. This decision sparked widespread debate among parents and education stakeholders, prompting the minister to revise the minimum admission age to 16.