JAMB raises alarm over illegal admissions, as Board receives 600,000 applications for condonement in 3 years

By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has raised alarm on the menace of illegal admissions in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

According to the Registrar of the Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the high rate of illegal admissions had become worrisome, as requests for their condonement rose to over 600,000 from institutions between 2017 and 2020.

Prof Oloyede made the disclosure when a delegation from the Nigerian Army School of Finance and Administration (NASFA), paid him a courtesy visit in his office at the over the weekend.

He warned that if such practices were not nipped in the bud, it would, in the long run, not only tarnish the image of the country’s education system but also affect the sourcing of accurate data on gross enrollment ratio and subsequently statistics for national planning and development.

The JAM Registrar also charged the institution not to admit any candidate if he or she did not sit the Board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), stressing that such admission would be a nullity as the Board would not have any records of such candidate in its system and any certificate issued to him or her would not be recognised anywhere.

He cautioned all tertiary institutions against flouting the directive of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, at the just- concluded 2021/2022 Policy Meeting against the conduct of admission outside the purview of the Board’s Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).

He further explained that any institution involved in such ignoble act was working against the spirit of the Federal Government’s directive on ease of doing business, among other.

Prof. Oloyede said illegal admissions being conducted by some institutions under the guise of “regularization” would no longer be tolerated, stating that after the agreed deadline as announced by the Board, no excuses would be entertained as the Minister had given all institutions enough time to remedy this infraction.

Earlier, the NASDAF Deputy Commandant/Chief of Staff and Director of Studies, Col. Onyekachi Eneomwo, said that the institution started running Diploma programmes for officers in the military and paramilitary in 2012 and was at the Board to ensure that they were doing the right thing in terms of admission process and placement.

(With a JAMBulletin report)