From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination (JAMB) has disclosed that thousands if not millions of students are in universities and other institutions in Nigeria illegally. Many of the students are not aware, but only realise towards or at the end of their programmes.
This, it said, was because some institutions offered candidates admission outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) recognised by JAMB as the only reliable admission platform.
In August 2016, shortly after Prof Ishaq Oloyede barely settled down as JAMB Registrar, he was confronted with illegal admissions in tertiary institutions going on for years either unnoticed or unattended to.
He told journalists few weeks into office that illegal admissions, which he described as “under the table” admissions was a huge challenge for JAMB. There were requests from the affected institutions for the regularisation of these admissions. If not attended to, the affected students would be denied opportunity to graduate and participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC).
He promised to get approval from the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to attend to the requests. The approval was eventually granted for JAMB to carry out the regularisation.
On May 2021, JAMB returned to the minister with another request. This followed outcry by parents and students alleging that some institutions were collecting N10,000 to N80,000 from students to process late or irregular admissions. Again, the minister gave approval for a final round of waiver.
The minister then directed that from 2020 admission upward, no request for regularisation of illegal admission(s) should be attended to by JAMB. The affected institution(s) would be sanctioned accordingly.
What constitutes illegal admission?
According to JAMB, illegal admissions are admissions conducted by institutions outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) and never followed the processes and procedures highlighted by the board. It confirmed that thousands of students fell into this category and unfortunately, many are not aware.
Illegal admissions are also those not issued by JAMB through its CAPS platform, but by individual institutions for whatever reason. Hence, the student’s profile and details are not in the board’s database. They neither have admission letter from the board nor matriculation number.
JAMB maintained that it has the exclusive right and mandate to offer admission to students into any tertiary institution in Nigeria. It had announced the stoppage of waiver for illegal admission that is deceitfully called “regularisation” from 2017 to enable it address the irregularities in previous admission processes, ensure the accuracy of admission statistics and ensure transparency in the admission process.
It said lots of candidates are in this predicament because of desperation, ignorance and wanton disregard of extant regulations by some institutions. This leads to the conduct of underhand or backdoor admissions, creating room for the avalanche of requests for regularisation.
JAMB said that it was the seemingly hopeless situation of candidates seeking regularisation that prompted Adamu to give approval for a final round of waiver. It confirmed that submissions by institutions have been given accelerated considerations before the affected candidates could be captured in the board’s database.
Institutions named in illegal admissions
Records obtained from JAMB indicated that virtually all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, especially the public ones are guilty of the act, but some have higher cases than others.
The records indicated that Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, was leading the top 10 defaulter universities with 20, 162 illegal admissions conducted between 2017 to 2022. Others are University of Jos (7,600 students); Benue State University (6,171); University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (5, 457); Kwara State University (5,070); Novena University (3,432); Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi (2,902); Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi,(2,795); Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State (2,586) and University of Calabar, (2,523).
On the polytechnics category, Kwara State Polytechnic led the top 10 chart with 49,971 illegal admissions conducted within the period under review. Others are Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State (41, 329); Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State (31, 287); YabaTech, Lagos (30, 856); Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State (24,837); IMT, Enugu (24, 338); Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa (24, 335); Federal Polytechnic, Mubi (20, 980); Delta State Polytechnic (19, 375); and Kano State Polytechnic (19, 310).
Federal College of Education, Katsina, led this category with 19, 772 illegal admissions. Others are College of Education, Akwanga, Nasarawa State (16,761); Niger State College of Education (13,971); Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto (8,742); Adamu Tafawa Balewa College of Education, Bauchi (7,930); Adamu Augie College of Education, Kebbi State (7,102); Yusuf Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies, Daura, Katsina State (5,704);
Zamfara State College of Education (5,217); Federal College of Education, Bichi, Bauchi State (5,003) and College of Education, Oju, Benue State (4,473). The data also recorded similar illegal admissions in many monotechnics.
Minister’s warning
Adamu, who chaired the 2022 Policy Meeting of JAMB in Abuja, recently, registered his discontent with the practice: “I am aware that JAMB issued specific advisories to guide different aspects of the process. I therefore urge every Institution to comply with the advisories in the interest of the sector.
“I had approved that all illegitimate admissions from 2017 to 2020 be condoned as long as such candidates met the minimum entry qualifications in their various courses of study. I am aware that the process led the affected institutions to declare about one million illegitimate admissions for the periods.
“But as soon as the process was completed, necessary measures would be put in place to track and sanction all culpable heads of institutions irrespective of whether they are or not still in office. I have directed a close watch on the 2021 and 2022 admission exercises with a view to identifying any violator for stiffer punishment. I must reiterate my stance that no violator would go unpunished even after he or she must have completed the tenure of office.”
Consequences of illegal admissions
JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said any student on illegal admission will suffer setback at the end of the programme except the necessary corrections are done by the institution: “The affected students won’t have admission letter from JAMB. This will affect their chances of graduating, clearance and participating in the mandatory one NYSC programme.”
He said recently, there were complaints by some candidates on their inability to obtain their admission letters to qualify them to proceed on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or obtain exemption letters as the case may be:
“These complaints emanated from the frustrations of students who are expressing anger at the lack of formal recognition of their degrees by relevant authorities. It was, simply, because of undisclosed illegal institutional admissions conducted outside CAPS by the institutions.”
Students’ experiences
Dahiru said he realised he was on illegal admission in one of the universities in the North East ast on his third year, first semester: “It took the grace of God for me to graduate with my mates. It’s like the school used the window approved by the Minister and JAMB to fix my admission issues which enabled me to participate in NYSC.”
Caleb (surname withheld) from Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, said: “I realised I had a replay of how I secured the admission, compared it with my course mates. I realised that mine was not legitimate because I never had admission letter from JAMB like other students neither was my details there in JAMB database.
“My admission came long after other had started lectures. That was after JAMB must have concluded admission processes, and school had to do theirs using their discretion. The stuff denied me the opportunity to be mobilised for NYSC alongside my mates. Eventually, it was done, and I was mobilised after a while. It was a horrible and traumatic experience for me, but God came through for me.”
Benjamin, a student from Benue State University, was notified about his case few months before the strike by ASUU: “I was not surprised when an admissions officer broke the news to me because I suspected foul play when the admission came. I couldn’t say no because I was eager to get into school.
“But he asked me not to panic that it will be corrected before the end of the programme, and it was done. That was a big risk for me because I could have still been in school and out of school without evidence of being a graduate. That would have been disastrous and traumatic for my parents and I.
“I did not have a school identity card (ID card) for the years I spent in school. It was because I didn’t have matriculation number, which is an important item in the ID card. The school couldn’t have given someone matriculation number. It was a source of worry and concern for me. I periodically visited the admissions office for a way out.”
At the 2022 JAMB policy meeting, Vice Chancellor, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Prof Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, disagreed with the JAMB that his university was on top of table of universities with illegal admissions.
He reminded JAMB they have several students who are not on regular programme, notably, Sandwich, Distance Learning and Continuing Education. But JAMB insisted that the figure was for regular undergraduate students.
Some other heads of schools also disagreed with JAMB on illegal admissions. They said they need the students to raise funds to run the schools as they rely on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for survival.