DE registration: JAMB meets NIPEDS, warns officers against sabotage

THE registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has warned the Direct Entry (DE) registration officers not to compromise on the new guidelines issued by the board or involve themselves in any registration infractions that can jeopardise the good intentions of the board as it strategises to curb the abuses associated with A’Level certificates.

The warning was contained in an address read by the registrar during a virtual meeting hosted at the board’s national headquarters, Abuja, with members of the Nigeria Post-Secondary Education Data System (NIPEDS) Registration Officers and other critical stakeholders.

The warning became imperative following the resumption of sale of the Direct Entry application document after the initial suspension.

JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who confirmed the development to Nigerian Tribune, said Oloyede further charged the board’s registration officers to obey and comply with all the extant advisories and guidelines on Direct Entry registration, stressing that any mistake would not be excused; rather it would be construed as a deliberate attempt to circumvent and sabotage the system.

The registrar pointed out that the new measures were aimed at bringing sanity to the admission process and to checkmate all machinations targeted at standard of the A/L qualifications required from the DE candidates.

He disclosed that the recent joint operations conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) on DE qualifications had brought to light the series of unsavoury and nefarious activities being perpetrated by candidates.

He commended the authorities of the Bayero University, Kano, which rusticated 142 students who had been admitted with fake A’Level results.

Oloyede informed the registration officers that it was in a bid to curb these abuses that the board decided to subject the 2023 DE registration to a close monitoring.

According to the registrar, part of the entry requirements for the 2023 DE registration would include the registration/matriculation number of the previous school attended by the candidate; where the qualification was obtained; subject(s) of qualification; awarding institutions; and institutions actually attended, among others.

The board also recognises and accepts 13 categories of qualifications/certificates for the 2023 DE namely: first degree, university diploma, Higher National Diploma (HND), NABTEB Advanced National Business Certificate (ANBC), NABTEB Advanced National Technical Certificate (ANTC) and Ordinary National Diploma/National Diploma(OND/ND).

Others are: NABTEB GCE-A Level (2015-2021), Nigeria Certificate in Education(NCE); Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) A’Level; Joint Universities Preliminary Examination Board(JUPEB); Higher Islamic Studies Certificate(HIS) by NBAIS; International Baccalaureate (BN) for foreign certificates only: and the National Registered Nurse/National Registered Midwife (NRN/NRM) certificates, among others.

The registrar added that a total of 127 candidates, who had earlier registered for DE before the exercise was suspended had been directed to return to their registration centres and update their applications in line with the fresh advisories.