The Federal Government says stiffer penalties await tertiary institutions and admissions racketeers, who bypass the admission processes and the automated admissions electronic platform, known as Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) developed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who announced the sanction while declaring the 2021 policy meeting open,emphasized the need to comply with all the guidelines relating to admission processes in the country’s tertiary institutions.
He explained that CAPS was designed to safeguard the integrity of the admission process and ensure that all human errors and biases are eliminated, wondering why institutions would jettison the automated platform.
He added: “It is saddening to note that despite the clear directives issued at previous policy meetings, some institutions still surreptitiously admit candidates outside CAPS.I consider such an act as a direct affront to the system and appropriate sanctions shall be meted out to those found culpable. “Any institution that issued admission letters to candidates outside CAPS, will be punished for such gross indiscipline and fraud.
“The consequence of admissions conducted outside of CAPS is grievous. It subjects the candidates to a gloomy future as the awful consequences of the illegal admission await them after their studies when it would be impossible to take full advantage of their acquired certificates.”
He warned that efforts are being put in place to further ensure that illegal admissions would be a permanent burden that both the institution and the candidate would have to bear for long time.
He said:”As a demonstration of our resolve, I have directed JAMB to bring forward for appropriate sanctions, the list of all institutions involved in the violation of the directive of the government which was personally conveyed by me at the 2018 Policy Meeting at Gbongan, Osun State.The Ministry is very resolute that Heads of such institutions will be held personally responsible, either in or out of office. As such, if we are to sanitize our society, we must begin from the academics as they are saddled with the responsibility of moulding the character of future generations.”
He lauded the examination body for complying with the government’s directives on the National Identification Number (NIN) stating that the instrument was a potent weapon in the fight against examination malpractice as observed in the statistics provided by the board.
In his presentation,Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, disclosed that for the 2021 /2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Board is introducing two new subjects: Computer Studies and Physical and Health Education, bringing the total number of UTME subjects to 25.
Speaking on the 2020 admissions, Prof. Oloyede said out of the 956,809 admission spaces in the 962 higher education institutions in the country about 600,000 have so far been filled.
