The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB has given all tertiary institutions in the country one month to disclose all admissions conducted outside its Central Admissions Processing System, CAPS prior to 2017.
The Public Communication Advisor for JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin who stated this at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday, explained that the directive was aimed at enhancing transparency and fairness in the admissions process.
Dr. Benjamin advised all institutions to comply with the directive before the expiration of the one month window, or such admissions would seize to be recognized.
He said : “The attention of the Board has been drawn to the predilection of some institutions to admit candidates outside the approved Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) platform and process such through the condonement of illegal admissions window to accord legitimacy.
“In order to close this abused window, the Board has decided that: all institutions should now (or never) disclose all candidates illegally-admitted prior to 2017 whose records are in their system within the next one month beginning from 1st August, 2024; and any admission purportedly given prior to 2017 will no longer be recognized or condoned unless disclosed within this one-month window.
“Institutions are advised to comply with this directive as there will not be any further condonement of hitherto unrecorded candidates who did not even register with JAMB not to talk of sitting for any entrance examination’’.
He stated that the decision would help illegal admissions and falsification of records, while ensuring compliance with the provisions of CAPS.
The Public Communication Advisor for JAMB highlighted concerns over institutions colluding with candidates to falsify details for illegal admissions, which had led to fraudulent participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
He said despite warnings, some institutions continue to admit candidates outside CAPS and seek Condonement of Undisclosed Illegal Institutional Admissions (CUIIA).
“Consequently, the Board is terminating the aspect of CUIIA process which allows completely unregistered candidates (without registration) to be introduced to the system. CAPS is the only authorized platform for admissions. Those who even have registration but were illegally admitted between the period (2017-2020) would soon be denied the opportunity of the waiver unless they are disclosed within the next one month’’.
Dr. Benjamin said recent discoveries made it imperative for the Board to speak out to save the integrity of the education system.
On the issue of minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions for 2024/2025 session, the board maintained that the minimum age for admission remains 16 years.
“For the 2024 admission cycle, candidates who will be at least sixteen years old at the time of admission will be considered eligible. This decision follows the directive from the Chairman of the 2024 tertiary admission policy meeting, who is also the Honourable Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, that the extant policy of 6-3-3-4 be enforced only from 2025 session.
“The alarming avalanche of obviously false affidavits and upsurge of doctored upward age-adjustments on NIN slips being submitted to JAMB to upgrade recorded age is dangerous, inimical and unnecessary. ” he said.
The Public Communication Advisor for JAMB further expressed concern over the new trend of a strange admissions-practice labeled as “Daily- Part-Time” (DPT) by certain polytechnics and “Top Up” (TU) by some universities.
According to Dr. Benjamin, such programmes were alien to the education system in Nigeria and not approved by National Board for Technical Education nor by National Universities Commission.
Radio Nigeria