Insisting that it now runs a transparent system designed to ensure fairness, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has urged parents and candidates to protest if confident in their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scores but were denied admission into their desired institutions.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said this during an interview on Good Morning Nigeria, a Nigerian Television Authority’s programme. He pointed to the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) as a major factor in ensuring transparency.
In a video posted by NTA on Tuesday, Oloyede explained that many parents still resort to illegal means because they have “climbed the ladder to illegality” they believe there is no other way.
“I’ve seen many people who sent their children’s scores to me and asked what they could do. I tell them I will do nothing, and the candidate is admitted—and they thank me. I did nothing.
“If you find anybody… if you are sure of yourself, you have the score, or this is the UTME score of my child; you know that you ought to be admitted, and you were not admitted, protest to us because CAPS has made everything easy,” he said.
While pointing to the CAPS as key to ensuring transparency, the JAMB registrar disclosed that there has been no reported problem with it since 2017. According to him, the system as fully capable of managing admissions without interference or errors.
Speaking on issues related to direct entry, the registrar revealed that JAMB has strengthened verification processes for various programmes, making it nearly impossible for candidates to forge results.
“Since 2023, annually, the rates had gone down. Many people are no longer applying for direct entry because they know we are supervising thoroughly and every year, this year, we have arrested, we have caught 77, but we did more prevention.
“JUPEB, IJMB and all the rest—we check at the point of entry and we made it impossible for them to forge, but there are still degrees,” he said.
Oloyede added that degrees presented for admissions are now being verified with awarding institutions, including foreign universities, to prevent misuse.
“This year, we had about four or five cases where foreign institutions reported that the degree presented was not theirs.
“The answer to your question was that that was possible because at that time, we were not checking the A-level and it’s not part of primarily our duty. That’s why we don’t want to be diverted.
“That’s why we made one of the gurus of the universities to help us not to be diverted and every year,” he said.
