Kenyan and Ugandan examination boards are currently writing to Nigeria to check the records given by Nigerian candidates seeking admission to their respective tertiary institutions.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board announced this in a document for the 2024 policy conference.
JAMB stated in the document that it will not alter any students’ records, emphasising the importance of protecting Nigeria’s tertiary education from disrepute.
The action follows the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the verification of degree certificates from Uganda, Kenya, Benin Republic, Togo, and other nations due to claims of certificate racketeering.
Following an investigative report released by Daily Nigerian that uncovered the activities of bogus degree mills in the Benin Republic, the Federal Government established an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling in March to investigate certificate racketeers’ activities.
Umar Audu, a Daily Nigerian reporter, explained how he earned a degree in six weeks and then served in Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps.
The investigation study, which highlighted illegalities committed by some tertiary institutions in West African countries, prompted the Nigerian government to prohibit the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from the Benin Republic and Togo.
Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, having received the committee’s report, noted that holders of fake degrees from Nigerian and foreign universities would be flushed out of the system.
Some of the recommendations of the committee stressed the need for universities in the country to conduct their admissions via the Central Admissions Processing System popularly known as CAPS and the mandatory submission of matriculation lists to the federal Ministry of Education.
In a document obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, JAMB noted that Kenya and Uganda exam boards are now writing to Nigeria to verify records of Nigerian students seeking to study in the countries.
“Uganda and Kenya examination boards are now writing to JAMB to confirm records presented by candidates for admission of candidates. JAMB would not falsify record,” the Nigerian exam body stated.
Recall that the Federal Government required all tertiary institutions to submit their matriculation lists to the Ministry of Education within three months of matriculation ceremonies.
The list, the government stated, must be submitted “through the dedicated channel of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.”
The initiative is one of the recommendations made by the government’s Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling, which was established to combat fake degree mills and racketeers.