About 1,665 fake A’level results were uncovered during the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said.
The agency said the A’level results verification regime was occasioned by the endemic corruption associated with the system and was intended to restore the integrity of this component of the admission process.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede said this during a visit by the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Colleges of Education Students (NANCES) at JAMB’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja.
Oloyede revealed that of this figure, 397 were from colleges of education, 453 from university diplomas and the rest A’level certificates.
He pointed out that it should be of grave concern if no one respected the certificate one was holding; hence, there was a need to safeguard the integrity of the A’level certificates that are used to secure admission through measures that would stand the test of time.
In its weekly bulletin released by the spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Tuesday, the Registrar recalled that in the past, when a candidate applied for DE, the Board would simply ask awarding institutions to do the necessary screening and due diligence.
Oloyede stated that JAMB was dumbfounded by the startling revelations from Bayero University, Kano (BUK), where 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 took five minutes to verify any given certificate.
Oloyede also disclosed to underscore the importance attached to the exercise, the Board has put in place a “no verification, no admission” policy.
While listing 15 institutions that have not sufficiently complied with verification requests from the Board, he stated 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.
According to the Registrar, the modification in the ongoing DE registration is that candidates could go ahead and register while the school verifies them at the backend.
He, however, declared that the fifteen institutions, which were yet to fully comply, would have to pre-verify holders of their certificates before they complete their DE registration.
The Board has further extended the registration exercise for 2024 Direct Entry examination to April 25.
It had fixed March 28 as the deadline for its DE registration which commenced on February 28.
The board subsequently extended the deadline to April 11.
But in an X post on Tuesday, the board said it has extended the deadline to April 25.
JAMB said the latest extension became necessary to accommodate candidates who have expressed interest in registering for the exercise but have been unable to do so “against the backdrop of some compelling realities”.
It also attributed the deadline shift to the implementation of novel measures aimed at curbing “infractions discovered in the DE component of the admission value chain”.
“The general public is invited to note the iron-clad determination of the board to safeguard its systems from threats from whatever quarters, while ensuring that candidates with genuine credentials are given the opportunity to register for the DE exercise.
“Candidates with questionable credentials are urged in their own interest to stay away from the registration venues as the various measures put in place by the Board are guaranteed to fish out holders of forged or fake certificates for apprehension and prosecution,” it said.
