JAMB adopts “no verification, no admission” policy to tackle fake results

In the face of uncovering the huge number of fake results at the A’level Direct Entry (DE) registration exercise, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has adopted a no verification, no admission policy.

Is-haq Oloyede, the registrar and chief executive officer at JAMB disclosed that the board uncovered at least 1,665 fake A’level results during the 2023 Direct Entry (DE) registration exercise while receiving leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Colleges of Education Students (NANCES) in his office recently.

Oloyede revealed that the A’level results verification regime was occasioned by endemic corruption associated with the system, adding that it was intended to restore the integrity of this component of the admission process.

“To underscore the importance attached to the exercise, the board has put in place a, “no verification, no admission” policy,” Oloyede said.

The former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin also listed 15 institutions that have not sufficiently complied with verification requests from the board.

Furthermore, he reiterated that the affected institutions, with more than 20 unverified candidates, would have to pre-verify candidates applying with their certificates before they could complete their DE registration process.

The JAMB chief executive officer revealed that out of this figure, 397 were from Colleges of Education; 453 were university diploma holders, and the rest were other A’level certificates.

He pointed out that it should be of grave concern if no one respects the certificate one is holding; hence, there was a need to safeguard the integrity of A’level certificates used to secure admission through measures that would stand the test of time.

According to the board’s weekly bulletin, the registrar recalled that in the past, when a candidate applied for DE, the high education entrance examination umpire would simply ask awarding institutions to do the necessary screening and due diligence.

He stated that JAMB was astonished by the startling revelations from Bayero University, Kano (BUK), whereby out of the 148 Direct Entry applications to the institution, only six of the certificates forwarded for processing were genuine.

The registrar added that it was the discovery of this monumental fraud that prompted the meeting of critical stakeholders, who met to chart ways of combating the menace.

Part of the measures suggested, he said, was the constitution of an A’level result verification task force as well as the creation of a common platform for the verification of A’Level results and certificates.

He said the platform was reliable and user-friendly, as it only takes five minutes to verify any given certificate.

According to the registrar, the modification in the ongoing DE registration was that candidates could go ahead and register while the school verifies them at the backend.

He, however, declared that the 15 institutions, which were yet to fully comply, would have to pre-verify holders of their certificates before they complete their DE registration.