From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced full automation of its administration and other services to all stakeholders in order to improve on efficiency and service delivery to the public.

It stated that beginning from January, 2023, the board will not receive any physical letter from any institution or agency except through its Interactive e-Brochure and e-Syllabus System (IBASS).

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, announced the development at a meeting with regulatory agencies and tertiary institutions at JAMB headquarters in Abuja, on Monday.

Prof. Oloyede explained that IBASS will ensure seamless communication between JAMB, institutions and their regulatory agencies, without the use of letter writing as the practice has been over the years.

He further explained that the automation of curriculum, accreditation and general administration matters among JAMB, regulatory agencies and Institutions will provide personalised services to the institutions and agencies as only JAMB and the institution will be able to see any communication on the platform.

He explained further: “We discovered that we spend our time attending to letters from some major stakeholders of the board, notably, National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE). Apart from these stakeholders, we also receive correspondences from 890 institutions across the country.

“The regulatory agencies often appeal to us for approval of new programmes and accreditation of programmes. And what we receive from institutions is essentially about admissions and registration or accreditation of new courses or quota issue.

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“With this platform, if NUC approves admission quota, it would be centralised in such a way that as soon as you see ‘approved’, everybody will see it and there is no need to write to JAMB,” he explained.

The Executive Secretary of NCCE, Prof. Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, in his remarks noted that the platform will make admission process seamless.

He commended the many initiatives taken by JAMB to reduce delay and improve efficiency, adding that IBASS will address challenges and improve efficiency in the admission process.

The Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, in his submission said in the last six years, JAMB has built a strong relationship with regulatory agencies and institutions of higher learning in the country.

He stressed that the importance of communication as a tool for organisational efficiency can never be overemphasized, thus commending JAMB for setting up CAPS and IBASS as that would improve efficiency and smooth operations of JAMB.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Muhammad Bugaje, said the introduction of IBASS and CAPS was the “magic one” as the nation requires digitization of all its communication.

Prof. Bugaje, however, decried the failure of some Polytechnic Rectors to embrace digitisation, adding that the Board will soon commence digitisation of all its process including accreditation in all polytechnics nationwide.