Age Limit for the Schools of Nursing in Nigeria

Age Limit for the Schools of Nursing in Nigeria :

When discussing the age limit for admission into School of Nursing, it is easy to confuse the admission policies on age for other institutions. The admission age for nursing schools/colleges differs from that of other institutions such as universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and Initiative enterprise institutes.

While other conventional institutions have a minimum age for admission, those schools have no such restriction. As a result, according to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and a few other institutions, the minimum age for other institutions on the first/last day of October is 16 years.

And, as previously stated, if you are over the age of 16 and seeking admission to any other institution, your age on admission is irrelevant.

Nursing schools, on the other hand, are a little different. They have both minimum and maximum age requirements for admission. While we have a general minimum age, there are a few exceptions.

General Minimum Age Requirements For Schools and Colleges of Nursing

According to the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), the acceptable Minimum Age range for admission into Basic Nursing and Basic Midwifery Training programme is 16.

This is the exact minimum age set by JAMB for universities, polytechnics, and educational colleges. However, unlike the JAMB minimum age requirements, the council did not specify a specific month for the age.

In other words, while JAMB and other institutions require candidates to be 16 at the time of application or admission, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria does not specify a month.

Age Limit for the Schools of Nursing in Nigeria 0 Specific Minimum Age By Individual Schools of Nursing

Under normal circumstances, every school of Nursing should comply with the minimum age stated by the Nursing & Midwifery Council of Nigeria. However, the reverse is still the case (at least at the time of this post).

A few schools of Nursing had required more than 16 years in their entrance application adverts. Below are a few to check.

1. University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City (18 years)
2. FCT School of Nursing Gwagwalada (17 years)
3. The University of Lagos, College of Medicine, and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)  (17years)
4. Kwara State College of Nursing, Oke Ode (17.5 years)
5. University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Nursing (17 years)
6. Kaduna State College of Nursing Kafanchan (17 years)
7. School of Nursing, Sacred Heart Hospital, Lantoro, Abeokuta (17 years)
8. Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) School Of Nursing (17.5 years)
9. Adamawa State College Of Nursing And Midwifery Yola (17.5 years)
10. Nigerian Army College of Nursing, Yaba Lagos State (17 years)
11. Oyo State College Of Midwifery Eleyele Ibadan (17 years)
12. Lagos State College of Nursing Igando, Lagos State (17 years)

Some schools of Nursing May Be Silent about the Minimum Admission Age

In this case, it’s safer to think that they strictly comply with the requirement stated by the NMCN. Checking the following schools of Nursing, their adverts do not state any age requirement.

1. Shehu Sule College of Nursing and Midwifery Damaturu
2. Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital School of Nursing
3. Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi
4. Bowen School of Nursing University Teaching Hospital Ogbomoso
5. Ogun State School Of Nursing And Midwifery Complex Idi-aba, Abeokuta
6. School Of Nursing – Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido, Ekiti State
7. Katsina State College of Nursing and Midwifery Kasimu Kofar Bai
8. Cross River State School Of Nursing (S.O.N.), Calabar
9. Benue State School of Nursing Makurdi

Whereas, the following schools of Nursing state the corresponding age with that of NMCN.

1. University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital School of Nursing (16 years)
2. Osun State School of Nursing Asubiaro Osogbo (16 years)

Maximum Age limit for the Schools/Colleges of Nursing

It is unusual to see nursing school advertisements specifying the maximum age a prospective applicant must not be before being admitted. As previously stated, the minimum age can be seen in several advertisements, and where they are silent, it is 16. Is this to say that there are no maximum age requirements for nursing school/college admissions?

If you must apply for a Basic or General Nursing course, some schools still outline an age range. The list of such nursing colleges is provided below, with the maximum age of applicants clearly stated.

1. University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Nursing (33 years)
2. Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) School Of Nursing (26 years)
3. Nigerian Army College of Nursing, Yaba Lagos State (25 years)

And, because the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria does not announce any maximum age for applicants pursuing the general Nursing programme, it is safe to conclude that if a Nursing school does not announce the maximum age or the age range desired, it means it is not concerned with any age limit other than 16 as the minimum and with no maximum.

Minimum and Maximum Age for the Post Basic and Post-Graduate Courses

Apart from the general or basic Nursing programme, schools of Nursing run a few other courses including:

Here, the minimum age is still fixed at 16 years or sometimes 18. There is no specific maximum age for these kinds of courses as they’re meant for the mature and probably practising nurses.