From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Aside the growing allegations of financial mismanagement and other corrupt practices being recorded in Nigerian universities, admission fraud has been added to the challenges faced in the institutions.
It was recently established that some university authorities defraud thousands of admission-seeking students, and issue them with fake admission opportunities without the knowledge of the students and relevant bodies involved.
Described as “under the table” admissions, the institutions engaged in an unrecognised and fraudulent admission of thousands of students over a period of time, hoping to leverage window of opportunity by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), to perfect their illegal actions.
There was also a new trend of a strange admission practices by some polytechnics and universities labelled “Daily Part-Time” (DPT) and “Top Up” (TU), respectively.
Findings revealed that the fraudulent innovation was designed to side line quality, approved quota for full time admission, falsify records, and consequently rake illegitimate income and derail the ambition and career of innocent (and some equally crooked) candidates.
JAMB, being an agency of the government that has the mandate to carry out admission exercise into tertiary institutions has also confirmed the fraudulent activities being perpetrated by some institutions. Investigations by Daily Sun indicated that thousands of students in public and private institutions are caught up in the web. Sadly, many are aware while some are not.
It was revealed that university authorities annually collect revenue running into billions of Naira from the affected students some of whom are completely unaware of their status of admissions in the school. In many cases, different fees are charged without clear reason but to fix and perfect the admission fraud.
How it started
In 2017, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who was barely one year in office as JAMB Registrar, disclosed that thousands if not millions of students were in universities and other institutions illegally. Sadly, many of the students were not aware, but realised towards or at the end of their programmes, when it’s time to graduate and participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
This was because several institutions offered the candidates admission outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) that is known and recognised by JAMB as the only reliable and recognised admission processing platform.
JAMB said the development has become a huge challenge, as there were requests from institutions for the regularisation of admissions they conducted outside CAPS, which was the recognised admission platform, stressing that the affected students would neither graduate nor participate in the NYSC because their information are not properly captured in JAMB’s database.
But in an effort to assist thousands of the affected students and the institutions, JAMB sought the consent of the then Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to attend to the requests that were already submitted by the various institutions for regularisation, and luckily, the request was granted for JAMB to carry out the regularisation.
But in May 2021, JAMB returned to the minister with more requests following public outcry by parents and students, who had alleged that some institutions were collecting about N10,000 to N80,000 from students for the processing of late or irregular admissions, and graciously, the minister gave approval for a final round of waiver ending in 2020.
The minister directed that from 2020, no request for regularisation of illegal admission(s) should be attended to by JAMB and that the affected institution(s) should be sanctioned, accordingly.
Institutions involved
Records obtained from JAMB in 2022 indicated that virtually all institutions, notably, especially the public ones are guilty of the act, but some have higher cases than others. The records indicated that Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, was leading the top 10 universities involved in illegal admission with 20,162 students admitted between 2017 and 2022.
Others are University of Jos (7,600 students); Benue State University (6,171); University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (5,457); Kwara State University (5,070); Novena University (3,432); Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi, (2,902); Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, (2,795); Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state (2,586) and University of Calabar, (2,523).
For polytechnics, Kwara State Polytechnic led the top 10 chart with 49,971 illegal admissions conducted within the period under review. Others are Auchi Polytechnic, Edo state (41, 329); Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State (31,287); Yaba College of Technolgy, Lagos (30, 856); Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State (24,837); Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Enugu (24, 338); Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa (24, 335); Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State (20, 980); Delta State Polytechnic (19, 375); and Kano State Polytechnic (19, 310).
Federal College of Education, Katsina, led the colleges of education category with 19,772 illegal admissions conducted within the period under review. Others are College of Education, Akwanga, Nasarawa State (16,761); Niger State College of Education (13,971); Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto (8,742); Adamu Tafawa Balewa College of Education, Bauchi (7,930); Adamu Augie College of Education, Kebbi state (7,102); Yusuf Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies, Daura, Katsina State (5,704); Zamfara State College of Education (5,217); Federal College of Education, Bichi, Bauchi State (5,003); and College of Education, Oju, Benue State (4,473). The data also recorded similar illegal admissions in several Monotechnics.
Final warning from JAMB
Last week, JAMB boss addressed the media to register its concerns with the flagrant abuse of regularization opportunity for illegally conducted admissions. It said that despite the grace periods and warnings from the board, some institutions continued to offer admissions outside CAPS thus putting the academic destiny of candidates on danger.
JAMB said it also noticed a situation where completely unregistered candidates are introduced to the system for regularization. JAMB stated that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had directed that a grace period of 30 days, August, 1 to 30, 2024, was given to institutions to submit the list of illegal admissions prior to 2017 for regularisation.
It said the decision marks the end of the condonement of illegal admissions window, which previously allowed institutions to incorporate unauthorised admissions into the system.
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, Public Communication Advisor for JAMB, said that the board has noticed an abuse of the condonement of undisclosed illegal institutional admissions opportunity, and in order to close this abused window, the board has decided that all institutions should now (or never) disclose all candidates illegally-admitted prior to 2017 whose records are in their system within the next one month period, and any admission purportedly given prior to 2017 will no longer be recognised or condoned unless disclosed within this one-month window.
He advised institutions to comply with the directive as there will not be any further condonement of hitherto unrecorded candidates who did not even register with JAMB not to talk of sitting for any entrance examination. “This move is aimed at curbing illegal admissions and falsification of records, while ensuring compliance with the provisions of CAPS.
“Therefore, all institutions have been directed to disclose, for the final time, all candidates admitted illegally within their systems, and moving forward, the Board will not tolerate any undisclosed admission by any institution,” he said.
Implications of illegal admission
JAMB said data being provided by the institutions indicated that thousands of students are affected by the development. They would be confronted with some setbacks at the end of the programme except the institutions did the necessary corrections.
Benjamin explained that students in the circle won’t have admission letter from JAMB neither would they have admission number, which would affect their chances of graduating, clearance and participating in the mandatory one NYSC programme.
He said recently, there were complaints by some candidates on their inability to obtain their admission letters, which would qualify them to proceed on the one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or obtain exemption letters as the case may be.
“These complaints emanated from the frustrations of students, who are expressing anger at the lack of formal recognition of their degrees by relevant authorities. It was, simply, because of undisclosed illegal institutional admissions conducted outside CAPS by the institutions,” Benjamin said.
Students’ experiences
A student of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Onyekachi: “For the years we spent in the school, we never had a proper admission record that sound convincing. We were confused on what to do because the school officials are unfriendly, and in most cases, they shout down on students whenever they are asked questions or seek clarifications.
“We were heavily extorted by one of the staff, who later disclosed the true situation of our admission. He, however, assured us that the school management was working on the matter, but if we ‘oil his palms’ he would bring up our file for speedy attention. We were forced to do his bidding because we saw so many students who were ahead of us but couldn’t graduate and participate in NYSC because of the challenge.
“Sadly, despite the gratification, our case was still delayed for several years. We never knew it was like this, we wouldn’t have accepted the admission in the first place, or we would have started fixing the challenge long before we reached 300 level.”
Saleem from Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said he realised that he was on illegal admissions on his third year (first semester): “It took the grace of God for me to have graduated with my mate. It’s like the school used the window approved by the minister and JAMB to fix my admission issues which enabled me to participate in NYSC.”
Kamsiyo, (surname withheld), from the University of Jos, said: “Immediately I realised, I had a quick replay of how I secured the admission, compared it with my course mates and realised that mine was not legit. I never had admission letter nor admission number from JAMB just like other students neither was my details accessible in JAMB database.
“My admission came long after others had started lectures. So, I think that was after JAMB must have concluded admission processes, and school had to do theirs using their discretion. The stuff denied me the opportunity to be mobilized for NYSC alongside my mates. Eventually, it was later done, and I was mobilised after a while. It was a horrible and traumatic experience for me, but God came through for me.”
Philomina, a student of University of Abuja, said: “I was not surprised when an admission officer broke the news to me that I am not known to the school. That my details are not in JAMB database. I had suspected foul play when the admission came, but I couldn’t say no because I was eager to get into school.
“The admission officer asked me not to panic that it will be corrected before the end of the programme, and it was eventually done. That was a big risk for me because I could have still being in school or out of school without evidence of being a graduate. That would have been disastrous and traumatic for my parents and I.
“I didn’t have school identity card for the years I spent in school. I believe it was because I never had matriculation number, which is an important item in the ID card. The school couldn’t have given someone else’s matriculation number. It was a source of worry and concern for me. I periodically visited the admission office for way out.
Former Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, disagreed with JAMB on consistent practice of illegal admissions.