The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Sunday told all higher institutions involved in illegal and irregular admissions to desist forthwith as the board is set to clamp down on all such erring institutions.
JAMB registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede stated this during a press conference where he was represented by the spokesperson of the board Dr Fabian Benjamin.
According to the JAMB boss, “The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) would no longer entertain absorption of illegal admissions through the window of what it called ‘condonment of illegal admission without registration number’. It would be recalled that Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) was introduced in 2017 to ensure accuracy, records, transparency, accountability, fairness and equity in admission into tertiary institutions.
The window has been on now for seven years and now being abused.
“The board’s position is informed by the discovery of widespread and unwholesome practice whereby some institutions were colluding with candidates to falsify vital details such as backdates year of entry and subsequent age adjustment to utilise certificates of genuine candidates with similar names to facilitate illegal admission in order to participate in the National Youth Service Scheme.”
Continuing further, Prof Oloyede said,”In the same vein, the attention of the board has also been drawn to the predilection of some institutions to admit candidates outside the approved Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) platform and process such through the condonment of illegal admission window to accord it legitimacy.”
The board also frowned at strange admission policies being adopted by institutions like Daily Part Time programmes by polytechnics and Top Up programmes by universities which it said are not approved by both the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Universities Commission (NUC), saying they are fraudulent devices to sideline quality and approved quota for full time university programmes.
It therefore advised all higher institutions to abide strictly by the code of admitting students within the CAPS platform.
For the 2024 admission, he said the minimum age still remains 16 until 2025 when it would change as according to him, “This decision follows the directive from the chairman of the 2024 tertiary admission policy meeting, who is also the Hon minister of education, Prof Tahir Mamman.”
