The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, claims that its efforts to sanitize admissions to the country’s tertiary institutions have resulted in the discovery of 3,000 graduates with illicit credentials.
This occurred after the board mandated that, in order to maintain legitimacy and openness, all admissions to postsecondary educational institutions,conventional or otherwise must be handled through its Central Admission Processing System, or CAPS.
Speaking during a meeting with the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State Universities in Nigeria (COPSUN), Ishauq Oleyede, the Registrar of JAMB, made this statement.
The media received the board’s weekly bulletin, which included Oloyede’s revelation.
According to the JAMB boss, who was quoted in the bulletin, the people who were involved in the forged credentials had never attended any lectures.
During the meeting at JAMB’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, Oloyede expressed his disapproval of certain institutions’ admission practices that are illegal.
He called it a great disgrace and a betrayal of the country. The message stressed how critical it is that educational institutions take immediate action to stop these admissions, as they compromise the integrity of the system.
This information was made public in response to a December 2023 order from the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education directing JAMB to compile a list of postsecondary institutions that had engaged in irregular and unlawful admissions.
Candidates have regularly received warnings from JAMB not to accept admissions from universities that do not adhere to the correct academic norms.
The disclosure which was reported in a news broadcast under the headline “Cessation of illegal/irregular admission,” appears to have shown the extent of widespread corruption in the nation.
In the meantime, JAMB has reaffirmed that JAMB is the only portal via which applications for admission to first-degree programmes, national diplomas, national innovation diplomas, and Nigerian certifications in education can be submitted.
It stated again, “Any admission not recorded in the Central Admission Processing System, or CAPS, is considered unlawful.”
Oloyede claimed that in order to guarantee transparency and remove human intervention, admissions had to be done via CAPS. He emphasised, “Any deviation from this process renders the admission null and void.
In Essence
The implementation of the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) seems like a positive step. It ensures a centralized system for admissions, potentially reducing the chances of manipulation.