Reactions follow Mamman’s resignation as Minister of Education – News – The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

The reactions followed the dismissal of former Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman.

Nigerians who took to social media to celebrate the minister’s resignation described it as even greater good news. They based their anger on the age restriction for university admission announced by the former minister.

For the Leader of the Center of Excellence in Innovation in Reproductive Health at the University of Benin, Prof. Friday Okonofua, this is President Bola Tinubu’s “best decision ever”.

Taking to Facebook immediately after announcing his resignation, Prof. Okonofua, pioneer vice-chancellor of the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences, could not contain his joy at the development even as he condemned the former minister’s decision to ban students from writing the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on account of age.

“Congratulations to the Nigerians. Minister saying our children cannot do WAEC until they are 18 dismissed…. Best decision by the president ever. Thank you, Mr. President,” said Don Corleone.

Another netizen, Edos Idahosa, said: “I was also happy that the fate of our children was released from their work.”

The Guardian reports that Prof. Mamman has been marred by controversy due to the Federal Government’s decision to set an age limit of 18 years for candidates for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that at the 2024 Policy Meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the Minister introduced a policy that sets the age of 18 years as the minimum age for admission into higher education institutions.

However, this sparked significant debate and criticism, as the decision was met with strong opposition from heads of institutions, including vice-chancellors, deans and deans.

In August, while appearing on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ program, the former Minister also announced that the Federal Government had banned individuals under the age of 18 from participating in the National Examinations Council and West African Examinations Council examinations.

Commenting on his X handle, @SOTesleem tweeted: “The (former) Education Minister deserves that sack for making the infamous age restriction for admission to higher education his biggest political statement.”

In a telephone interview with The Guardian last night, National Mobilization Officer, Educational Rights Campaign, Adaramoye Michael (Lenin), said: “The first thing to note is that we all agree that the sacked Education Minister was overseeing a sector of education that has not only failed but also failed to meet the expectations and desires of many stakeholders in the education sector.”

According to him, Prof. Mamman was stripped of his appointment based on political permutations and not because of his age restriction policy.

He called on the President to urgently declare a state of emergency in the education sector.

On its own, the Initiator of the Center for Creative Change, Omole Ibukun, said the dismissal will not change anything due to what he called “systemic problems” facing the sector.

“The resignation of the Minister of Education may not really change anything in the education sector. This is because the problem in the education sector is systemic and cannot be reversed by dismissing one person. The outgoing minister’s political somersaults on age restrictions are shameful and anti-intellectualist, but what about the president’s own student loan policy, which commercialized education?” he told The Guardian.