JAMB resumes DE registration, introduces new guidelines

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has resumed 2023 Direct Entry (DE) registration.

The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, who made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja, added that the exercise would terminate on April 28.

While deploring pervasive forgery of A’Level certificates by applicants, Oloyede said the Board had introduced new guidelines to check the menace.

His words: “You will recall that the Board commenced the 2023 Direct Entry registration on Monday, February 20, but had to immediately suspend it following discovery of machinations to circumvent and compromise the standard of A’Level qualifications required from DE candidates.

“Recall that recent joint operations of the Federal Ministry of Education and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) on DE qualifications brought to light some of these unsavoury and nefarious activities.

“Bayero University, Kano (BUK) has also consistently brought to the fore the high rate of forgery of A’Level qualifications for DE.

“For instance, it was discovered that, in previous years, some candidates used unacceptable and forged A’Level certificates/qualifications to register for Direct Entry and eventually got admitted. For example, out of 148 candidates verified by BUK, only six were found to be genuine. By implication, 142 of the results were forged.

Oloyede said JAMB would only accept 13 qualifications/certificates for the exercise, including First Degree, university diploma, Higher National Diploma (HND), Ordinary National Diploma /National Diploma (OND/ND) and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE).

Others are Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) A’ Level, Joint Universities Preliminary Examination Board (JUPEB) A’ Level, NABTEB Advanced National Business Certificate (ANBC), NABTEB Advanced National Technical Certificate (ANTC), NABTEB GCE A’Level (2015 – 2021), Higher Islamic Studies Certificate (HIS) by NBAIS, International Baccalaureate (IBN) and National Registered Nurse /National Registered Midwife (NRN/NRM).

He said the 127 candidates, who had earlier registered for the exercise prior to its suspension, would be requested to return to registration centres and update their applications.

Oloyede noted that the data bank put in place to address challenges associated with A’Level qualifications had been renamed, “Nigeria Post-secondary Education Data System (NIPEDS).”

On the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), he said his organisation had introduced new measures in the conduct of the test, urging understanding.