JAMB warns new institutions against illegal admissions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has issued a stern warning to newly established, upgraded, and adopted tertiary institutions against engaging in illegal admissions, stressing that there will be no room for regularisation.

Speaking at an interactive session with principal officers of the affected institutions on Monday in Abuja, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, emphasized that all admissions must be routed through the Central Admissions Processing System and strictly follow due process.

“CAPS ensures transparency, fairness, and integrity in admissions. Any institution attempting to bypass this platform risks nullifying such admissions,” Oloyede said.

He called for full compliance of the over 80 new institutions recently approved by the Federal Government with the admission procedures.

The registrar explained that CAPS, introduced in 2017, automates and standardizes the admission process, while the Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System, launched in 2018, facilitates clear communication and programme eligibility checks.

According to him, both platforms, now upgraded with institutional mail services, serve as JAMB’s sole official communication channels.

The JAMB boss lauded the Federal Government, under President Bola Tinubu, for its commitment to expanding access to tertiary education, citing the approval of 22 new universities, 33 new polytechnics and mono-technics, and 12 new colleges of education across the country between late 2024 and 2025.

He noted that while CAPS and IBASS accounts had been created for these institutions, only programmes cleared by the National Universities Commission,  National Board for Technical Education and National Commission for Colleges of Education would be activated.

Oloyede also outlined the proper procedures for onboarding candidates, stressing that institutions must nominate designated officers to manage CAPS and IBASS access.

“JAMB will provide full technical support, but compliance is non-negotiable. Institutions must avoid shortcuts. There’s no justification for admitting students through the backdoor,” he added.

A live demonstration of the CAPS and IBASS systems followed the session to acquaint the institutions with their operational protocols.

Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Prof William Qurix, said the meeting was to acquaint heads of institutions with the workings and operations of CAPS and IBAS through which the institutions can communicate and interact with JAMB.

Qurix disclosed that some candidates had already registered for JAMB before some new universities or polytechnics which are now just being approved or established.

According to him, such institutions would normally find it difficult to secure candidates to come to them.

“But this process has been cleared for us, and we are quite enlightened. JAMB gave us assurances of prompt response to any inquiries that might come from the heads of institutions, through their CAPS or IBAS system. So definitely this meeting has enlightened us, and it will have a great impact,” he said.

Earlier, the Director of Colleges at the Ministry of Education, Dr Uche Uba, noted that there were some criteria set by the National Universities Commission which must be followed by the new institutions.

Uba urged the colleges of education to upgrade to dual mode to meet with officials of NUC to familiarize themselves with the criteria.

“So I advise the colleges of education, please, try to meet with them. The last time we called NUC, only seven out of 15 reported to them. Please, it’s very, very important. And NUC must carry out resource verification. Because you are now standing alone. It’s not the one you did before,” she said.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of NCCE, Prof. Paulinus Okwelle, commended JAMB for its effort to establish a seamless admission process for tertiary institutions.

“JAMB has introduced cutting-edge technology and innovative approaches, seen at the beginning from when students apply for university admission, graduate exam, and then get admitted to progress. Things they are putting in place are very easy,” he said.

Okwelle encouraged the new colleges of education approved to run a dual-mode system ( Degrees and National Certificate on Education) to follow the admission processes laid down to keep them in competition.