The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned some higher institutions of learning, including the University of Abuja, to desist from issuing illegal admission letters to candidates without recourse to the board’s central processing unit.
This was contained in a statement signed by JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, Tuesday.
He said any admission that does not pass through the central admission processing unit of the board is illegal.
“It is, therefore, pertinent to state that such admissions that have not been proposed, approved nor accepted on the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) are null and void, and as such, asking hapless candidates to pay acceptance fees for such admissions that had not been processed through CAPS amounts to illegality.
“Consequently, such admissions are illegal, unacceptable and offensive to extant rules and regulations guiding admissions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria as approved by the Federal Ministry of Education and provided on CAPS,” the statement reads in part.
To curb admission fraud, the board instituted CAPS in 2017 as an automated platform designed to ensure that admissions are transparently done to protect the interest of all Nigerians seeking admission to higher schools.
JAMB, therefore, advised all candidates not to accept any admissions that were not provisioned on CAPS. “By implication, any candidate who has not accepted and printed his/her admissions letter on CAPS should not pay any acceptance fee as any admission done outside CAPS is an illegitimate admission that would not be sanctioned by the Board.”
JAMB’s admission guidelines, according to the statement, stipulate that institutions recommend qualified candidates through CAPS in accordance with laid-down criteria to the board for approval. As such, any such admission not approved by the board is an exercise in futility.
“Any institution violating this well-intentioned guidelines has much to hide and the Board would not shy away from its responsibility of ensuring compliance to laid-down admission guidelines.
“The Board will not relent in its efforts to ensure that no institution violates the extant admission guidelines.”Dr Benjamin advised candidates to, in their own interest, reject such admissions done outside the purview of JAMB, nor pay any acceptance fee as such admissions will never be allowed to stand,” it further said.
