From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Registrar, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said he is intimidated by the number of requests from tertiary institutions for regularisation that reached his table in his first six months in office.
He disclosed that 17,160 requests were received from virtually all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria, to correct the anomalies caused through the “illegal admission” of students for whatever purposes.
He revealed that over 30 per cent of students in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions were admitted illegally.
These were students, he added, who either did not sit for JAMB examination or scored less than declared minimum cut-off mark, but were privileged to secure the admission.
Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Plateau State, was first on the list with 1,770 candidates; Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi, was second with 986 candidates, while University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Borno State, came third with 717 candidates.
The Registrar, in his presentation at the 2017 combined policy meeting held in Abuja, recently, warned heads of tertiary institutions against illegal admission for revenue or whatever purposes, reminding them of the long run implications:
“However, we have streamlined and standardised the procedure of regularisation so we could possibly eliminate abuse that characterised the system in the past.
“The process has also been automated with direct involvement of Registrar of JAMB for final approval. We are impressed with the early result, which indicated a radical reduction in the number and frequency of the request for regularisation by institutions.”