Tunji Alausa, minister of education, says the unified tertiary matriculation examination exemptions granted to candidates seeking admission into colleges of education and national diploma (ND) agriculture programmes will increase the number of Nigerians admitted into tertiary institutions by 1.5 million.
On Monday, Alausa announced at the 2026 admission policy meeting that the federal government has exempted candidates seeking admission into colleges of education from writing the UTME.
The minister noted that candidates with four credit passes in relevant subjects would now be allowed to apply to colleges of education without sitting for the examination.
He explained that such candidates would, however, be required to register with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), while their credentials would be screened, verified and certified for admission letters through the central admissions processing system (CAPS) in line with existing regulations.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday, the minister defended the policy shift, noting that it is aimed at expanding access to tertiary education and reducing restrictive admission conditions.
“Let’s give these kids opportunity by removing the restriction,” Alausa said.
He recalled that the government had earlier reviewed ordinary level requirements for admission into tertiary institutions, particularly the compulsory credit passes in English language and mathematics.
“Just last year, we had a requirement: to go to university or college of education, you must have five credits,” the minister said.
“That must include English and mathematics. And we said, if you are going to study law, why do you need a credit in mathematics? If you are going to study science, why do you need a credit in English? We abolished that.”
Alausa said under the revised policy, candidates applying for social sciences, law and arts-related courses would only require a credit pass in English, while those seeking admission into science and engineering programmes would only require a credit pass in mathematics.
He noted that the policy review within one year had already increased admission into tertiary institutions significantly.
“For the number of students, there are always between 2.1 and 2.2 million people doing UTME year over year, and about 770,000 people will be admitted, leaving a huge gap,” the minister said.
“So, what happened to 1.2 million people? That gets carried over to the following year.
“But for the first time in the history of our country, last year, with the changes we made to the previously restrictive ordinary level requirement, we increased the number of people from 770,000 to 1.1 million students. We added almost 400,000 more students.”
He said the latest UTME exemptions for NCE and ND intakes would further expand access to higher education across the country.
“This year alone, with the changes we are making, eliminating UTME requirement for colleges of education and UTME requirement for non-technology agricultural and agricultural-related courses in polytechnics and monotechnics, it will increase the number of people being admitted to our tertiary institutions by almost 1.5 million,” he said.
The minister maintained that the reforms were designed to remove barriers preventing qualified Nigerians from accessing tertiary education, while also increasing enrolment in critical sectors such as teacher education and agriculture.
