July 20, (THEWILL) — The disclosure by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB, that many universities, polytechnics and colleges of education have by-passed the Central Admission Processing System CAPS, to offer admissions to students speaks to the unending issues with corruption and due process in our country.
JAMB described the admissions as “fake admission,” meaning that apart from being illegal, the illegality also jeopardises the educational future of the student so fraudulently admitted.
According to JAMB, 9,469 admissions across 20 tertiary institutions nationwide in the 2024 academic session were fake. Involved in the admission racketeering are federal, state and private institutions alike.
They include Kano State University of Science and Technology, which offered fake admission to 2,215 fake admissions, followed by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology with 1,215. In the third position in this ignoble act is Gombe State University, with 1,164; Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, 761; Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 534; Ambrose Alli University, 514; Igbinedion University, 365; Akwa-Ibom Polytechnic, 340 and College of Nursing, National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, 281.
Others are Achievers University, 267; Nigeria Police Academy, 263; Abia State Polytechnic, 256; Osun State University, 224; Federal University, Lafia, 189; Niger State Polytechnic, 182; Federal Polytechnic, Ida, 171 and Edo State Polytechnic,166.
In the rear are Anchor University, 133; Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, 116 and the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, 113.What these institutions have done by flouting JAMB’s CAPS, is to practice corruption and indoctrinate and indulge impressionable students in it. This misconduct reduces the image of these institutions in the estimation of reasonable people and deals a blow to the overall concept of education as a means of exposing the mind to enquiry, broadening the mind’s horizon and the imagination.
Only recently, Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, restated in Abuja at the recent 2025 policy meeting of JAMB, with stakeholders and heads of tertiary institutions in attendance, that all admissions conducted outside JAMB is illegal.
He went on to spell out the sanctions that culprits would face: Institutions and the candidates involved in such malpractices will be held accountable and sanctions may include withdrawal of institutional assets and prosecution of culpable officers or governing council members.
But as JAMB found out, many of those who attended the policy meeting have been sabotaging it. Even before Alausa’s warning and the policy meeting, JAMB has continuously alerted institutions to the dangers inherent in back-door admissions offered to candidates outside CAPS.
The candidates offered admission outside CAPS were barred from the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme, according to existing rule. That the institutions have continued to ignore this danger posed to the student’s welfare is not only a disservice to the noble ideals expected of tertiary institutions devoted to higher education but also a clear tendency to corrupt practices inherent in the culpable institutions. The ethical implications for the educational system is obvious when viewed against the notion that if allowed to continue many institutions will follow the ugly trend.
The culpable institutions’ conduct has trashed merit and hobbled a system put in place to enhance due process and efficiency, a system that supports the institutions to process admission with ease and provide the candidates with the opportunity to facilitate their admission by interfacing with the system for regular update of their application status.
We condemn the institutions involved in this corrupt practice and urge the ministry to apply the necessary sanctions to serve as a deterrent and uphold the sanctity of the JAMB admission process. We thought we had seen it all with the fake examination centres, cooked up results and impersonation of candidates that has been recurring annually.
We commend JAMB’s management for always rising to the challenge when issues of examination malpractices rear their heads.
For higher institutions to be caught offering fake admissions despite repeated warning by JAMB is criminal and deserve the appropriate punishment.
