The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, says the agency has uncovered 706,189 illegal admissions by universities, Colleges of Education, polytechnics and other institutions.
While speaking at a meeting with stakeholders in Abuja, Oloyede said illegal admissions had damaged the image of the country, adding that the illegality was perpetrated in all the six geopolitical zones by public and private higher institutions.
He said, “About 114 universities accounted for 67,795 of the illegal admissions; 137 polytechnics were responsible for 489,918; 80 Colleges of Education for 142,818 and 37 other institutions involved in 5,678 cases. These undisclosed admissions were perpetrated between 2017 and 2020.
He said the institutions disregarded JAMB’s Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) which allows institutions to “only admit candidates that met the requirements.”
He said the affected institutions’ Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts had admitted their mistakes by “sending a formal letter of confession and disclosure to the JAMB Registrar.”
In the list of the 114 universities given to stakeholders, some of the top indicted for illegal admissions include University of Jos (7,600), Benue State University (6,171), Olabisi Onabanjo University (5,669), Kwara State University (4,281), Novena University (3,432), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2,732), and Imo State University (2,330).
Others listed are the University of Calabar (2,074), NTA Television College (1,934), Baze University (1,717), Oduduwa University (1,450), Kaduna State College of Education (1,417), Tai Solarin University of Education (1,101), Al-qalam University (1,062) and Gombe State University (1,017).
Oloyede said, “As a measure of mopping up the backlog of improperly admitted candidates, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, assented to the Board’s plea for a last chance for the violators.
“He also approved the caveat that the culprits should declare the number of candidates admitted outside CAPS between 2017 and 2020 by sending a formal letter of confession and disclosure to the JAMB Registrar.
“The Board was also directed to launch campaigns to educate the public against accepting such illegal admissions henceforth.”
Copyright PUNCH.
