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The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has expressed his displeasure with some tertiary institutions, which are in the unwholesome habit of flouting the board’s guidelines, particularly on admissions and matriculations.
Prof. Oloyede made this known at a meeting he held recently with all JAMB admission desk officers at the National Headquarters, Bwari, Abuja.
This came after it was observed that some institutions matriculated students during the 2021 and 2022 academic years before sending their matriculation notification to the board as against the stipulated two-week prior written notification before the ceremony.
Article18.6.1 of the 2023 Guidelines on Admission states that, “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), must all be informed and invited not later than two weeks before matriculation ceremony, through the CAPS mail (as applicable to the institution).”
According to the Registrar, despite being aware of the above provision of the law, some institutions still proceeded to matriculate students without properly informing the Board, which was charged with the responsibility of analyzing the matriculation list and offering appropriate advice on whether the ceremony should be postponed or continued as planned.
“Gross disregard for the Board’s mandate is unacceptable, and henceforth, any erring institution will be sanctioned accordingly and violators will be published in the Board’s weekly Bulletin in line with the 2023 Guidelines on Admissions.”
“JAMB would continue to forward the analysis of matriculation lists to the institutions, for them to properly appraise the level of compliance or violations as late invitation to the matriculation ceremony would not be entertained,” he said. Earlier, Oloyede expressed appreciation to the Desk Officers for upholding the Board’s image and integrity.
He cited a scenario on the floor of the Senate during plenary on 8th November, 2023, where the Board was accused of complicity in admission racketeering with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, by the Senator representing Ebonyi North, Sen. Nwebonyi Onyeka Peter, prompting the Senate President, about what was perceived to be a connivance between JAMB and some institutions on the issue of admission racketeering.
This was hardly flattering but sometimes, what appears to be negative, if thoroughly looked into, may turn out to have some positivity in it as the Senate President stood in defense of JAMB, saying, “JAMB must be heard, because JAMB has integrity.” We must, therefore, thank the Senate President, in particular, and the Senate in general for taking that course of action. We thank them sincerely forgiving us the opportunity to be heard. For that, I feel very proud of JAMB and those who are working in JAMB.”
“However, JAMB will fully cooperate with the Senate to ensure that perpetrators, whosoever they are receive appropriate sanction, we will continue to do our best to ensure that the confidence reposed in us by the nation is not compromised in any way as we will continue to make the nation proud.”
Findings from the Board’s preliminary investigations showed clearly that no staff of the Board was in any way involved in the reported admission irregularities.
Furthermore, the Registrar had recalled that the Board, on discovering some of the abnormalities, had insisted that the right thing must be done by the institutions involved by ensuring that all high-scoring candidates topping their merit list must be admitted into their programmes of choice.
He noted that it was during the process of oversight that the Board discovered that many of the candidates parading themselves as high scorers did not meet the requirements to be admitted on merit. He stated that this was the main reason they had gone through illegal routes to secure their backdoor admissions. According to him, all students know that any admission letter that did not emanate from JAMB is not a letter of admission but a ‘ ‘ Letter of Deception”.
The Registrar expressed confidence that the Board’s mediation between the institution and the candidate would be greatly appreciated at the end of the investigation as the candidates had complicated their matter by accepting admissions through illegal channels even as he added that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. He concluded by thanking all staff of the Board for their commitment, integrity and quality service delivery.
