By Ngozi Nwankwo
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board,JAMB, has uncovered at least 1,665 fake A’level results during the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise.
The Board also 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 admission process.
The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed these alarming figures on Tuesday, 26th March, 2023, when he received the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Colleges of Education Students,NANCES,in his office.
According to him, out of this figure, 397 were from Colleges of Education, while 453 were university diplomas and the rest for other A’level certificates.
He pointed out that it should be of grave concern if no one respects the certificate one is holding hence, there is need to safeguard the integrity of A’level certificates that is used to secure admission through measures that would stand the test of time.
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.
He stated that JAMB was dumbfounded by the startling revelations from the Bayero University, Kano,BUK, whereby out 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 takes five minutes to verify any given certificate.