JAMB issues warning against illegal and underage admission

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, has warned universities against illegal admission that may require ‘regularisation’ after admission has been offered.

He stated that pursuing regularisation was prohibited.

He also warned against admitting underaged students.

JAMB regularisation is a process overseen by JAMB in Nigeria that validates and formalises the admission of students admitted to tertiary institutions without sufficient documentation or through informal methods.

He complained that the regularisation issue had deprived most candidates of the opportunity to serve in the National Youth Service Corps.

Oloyede made the remarks in Lagos on Tuesday at the opening of the seventh biennial meeting of Nigeria’s Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities, which began on Tuesday in Lagos.

The conference’s theme was “Effective University Governance: Role of Stakeholders.”

He stated that this behaviour should stop for the sake of accountability, data protection, and national integrity and that anything irregular was criminal.

“I want to discuss what I call illegal admission. Many Vice-Chancellors don’t like the word, the truth is that no need to regularise what is regular.

“Calling for regularisation after admission is illegal. Some candidates can’t go for NYSC because they were not properly admitted,” he said.

He also complained that admission of underaged and diploma candidates was also illegal admissions.

He said, “About two months ago, I received a letter from a European country to confirm if a student graduated from a particular university because she is 15 years old and applied for a postgraduate programme. The question they asked me was ‘Is this possible in Nigeria?’

“Also illegal admission of diploma students needs to stop because last year, we admitted 9,000 diploma students; I was alarmed that about 3,000 students came from a particular university.

“Every one of us should be accountable because all these acts can damage our education system.”

Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, stated in April that the Federal Government was considering setting an entry age of 18 years for admission to universities and other tertiary institutions of learning.