The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Nigeria recently reaffirmed 16 years as the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions.
And I ask, what about the little geniuses who start early and soar?
What happens to the children who don’t skip classes but simply began the journey ahead of schedule and grew steadily with it?
A 9-year-old in JSS1? That was me.
I completed secondary school at 14+, only to be told I was “too young” to sit for JAMB.
I still remember queueing up at the JAMB office in Owerri, just trying my luck, hoping to at least take the exam so they could judge me based on performance, not on age alone. But I was denied outright, simply because I wasn’t yet 16.
That one extra year at home felt like a silent punishment.
I watched some of my peers gain admission, not because they studied better than I did, but because they had the age advantage.
It was the most emotionally trying time of my life.
And to crown it all, I lost my elder brother during that waiting period.
He passed away shortly after I finally gained admission.
At 16, I entered the university after choosing from three admission offers:
• Imo State University (Civil Law)
• Abia State University (English & Literature)
• Federal Polytechnic Nekede (Mass Communication)
To cut a long story short, had there been no Jos crisis, no ASUU strikes, and no unnecessary delays, I would have graduated before I turned 19.
Being a November child gave me a small advantage — I turned a year older after each academic milestone.
But even with interruptions and national instability, I graduated at 20, just two months shy of 21.
And before then?
I had already launched two of my own companies:
All Times Global Magazine and Bbf Printing Press Nig. Ltd and today I run multiple businesses, built from vision, not from age.
Yet people still ask:
“Why so early?”
“Let a child be a child…”
As though the pursuit of knowledge robs a child of their childhood.
Meanwhile, some people complete university at 25, 30, or 35 and are still finding where their passion truly lies.
And that’s okay too, because growth has no fixed timeline.
We all evolve differently.
Our brains, our talents, and our destinies are uniquely wired.
In forward-thinking nations, gifted children are supported, mentored, and celebrated, not limited by arbitrary numbers.
So I say again:
Age is just a number.
Some bloom late. Some bloom early.
Both are valid.
Let’s stop asking “Where are you rushing to?”
Let’s stop blaming mothers for giving their children a head start.
Instead, let’s honor every journey, whether fast, slow, winding, or straight.
Because life isn’t a one size fits all exam.
We’re not copying from the same question paper.
Each of us has our own questions, and we are allowed to answer them in our own time, in our own way.
Chioma Rosemary Onyekaba
crom_de_pen_goddess
