Education minister Tunji Alausa says the recent reforms exempting colleges of education and non-technology agricultural courses in polytechnics and monotechnics, from the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination will increase admissions into tertiary institutions to 1.5 million.

Mr Alausa, who stated this in a Channels TV interview on Tuesday, said the policy was also aimed at creating wider opportunities for young Nigerians.

The minister stated, “Of all the polytechnics we have in the country, less than 100 people choose 62% of these institutions as their first choice. For colleges of education in the country, 82% has less than 100 people choosing them as their first choice.

“This year alone, with the changes we are making through eliminating UTME requirements for college of education and UTME requirement for non-technology agricultural courses in our polytechnics and monotechnics would increase the number of people being admitted throughout tertiary institutions to about 1.5 million. This will create has created opportunities for young Nigerians.”

Acknowledging the need to transform the youth population into demographic dividend, Mr Alausa noted that the reform was also aimed at advancing food security in the country.

“We have huge pool of young Nigerians and need to turn that into demographic dividend. We now create another layer on the other spectrum to address out-of-school adolescents. The mantra is we want to educate young Nigerians, make them and scale them up to be productive to the communities, the nation and the world at large.

“The exemptions are for people going into colleges of education and people going to monotechnics or polytechnics to study non-technology agriculture courses and there is a reason for that. We need that to help food security in our country,” Mr Alausa explained.

The education minister disclosed the ministry’s plans to embark on comprehensive curriculum modernisation for all agricultural courses across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education in the country.

On Monday, Mr Alausa announced the reform in Abuja during the 2026 policy meeting on admissions into tertiary institutions organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

The minister said the reform followed consultations with stakeholders aimed at expanding access to teacher education and strengthening enrollment in colleges of education nationwide.

He explained that eligible candidates would, however, be required to register with JAMB for proper screening, verification and issuance of admission letters through the Central Admissions Processing System.