Draft legislation laid before Parliament
yesterday intends to make the change by next spring.
It also proposes a range of new laws aimed at protecting children and the vulnerable – while any sexual act with a child under 13 will automatically be treated as rape.
Currently, the maximum penalty for rape is life but that is being extended to include all serious sex offences.
It will also make kerb-crawling a crime – punishable by a fine.
Meanwhile, those who run a brothel could face a seven-year term.
The Province has been out of step with the rest of Britain on the age of sexual consent since 1950 when a former Stormont government increased the age to 17.
Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins said there was no compelling reason for the age to be different here than elsewhere.
"Government is not saying 16 is the right age all young people should engage in sexual activity – but defining the age below which it is illegal," he said.
He said advice from a number of organisations working with children and young people was that they would be concerned if it stayed at 17.
The draft Sexual Offences (NI) Order 2007 will provide tough new legislation to strengthen protection against sexual crime and will see the removal of all current offences dating back to the 1800s.
Mr Goggins said the legislation would modernise offences, remove antiquated laws and at its core protection of the public.
The starting point had been the Sexual Offences Act introduced in England and Wales in 2003 and an endeavour to have consistency throughout the nation.
"The proposed legislation will strengthen protection for children and vulnerable groups against abuse and exploitation, and enable offenders, particularly abusive offenders, to be appropriately punished," he said.
"Importantly the proposals will broaden the definition of rape, making evidential changes to, and give a statutory definition of, consent, to help juries reach decisions in the most difficult cases
"The protection of children from abuse is central to the proposals and there will be maximum protection for all children under 13 where any sexual activity can be prosecuted as rape or assault without any reference to the issue of consent."