JAMB Reacts To Claims Of Screening Direct Entry Candidates Physically

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has denied reports circulating in some quarters claiming that candidates registering for Direct Entry are required to visit the board's headquarters or travel to another state for certificate screening.

JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, told Daily Trust that once a candidate applies for the DE, the credentials presented must be verified.

Benjamin was reacting to an allegation that JAMB Direct Entry candidates who apply for 200 Level in universities are now being made to go through physical screenings instead of the online screenings that are the trend globally.

He said: “We have integrated with all the awarding institutions, especially the A level institution like IJMB, NABTEB and colleges of education, so once you bring any documents to us that you want to apply for DE, we do verification to ascertain if they are genuine before you are considered for admission and it is not physical.

“The only thing is that if you bring a certificate that is not within our acceptable certificate, we tell you we don’t accept such certificate but that does not mean you will have to go to JAMB office, it is just to tell you that it is not accepted, like if you come with Cambridge awaiting result, we don’t take it,” he said.

Daily Trust reported that the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede had disclosed that there is modification in the process following the uncovering of at least 1,665 fake A’level results during the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise.

He said there is a need to safeguard the integrity of A ‘level certificates that are 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 said they constituted 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.

Prof. Oloyede also disclosed that, to underscore the importance attached to the exercise, the Board has put in place a “no verification, no admission” policy.