The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has urged candidates and parents to raise concerns if they believe they have been unfairly denied admission despite meeting requirements in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Registrar of JAMB, Ishaq Oloyede, made the call during an interview on the NTA’s programme, Good Morning Nigeria, stressing that the admission process is now transparent and merit-driven.

He noted that many parents still resort to illegal means to secure admission for their children, insisting that such practices are no longer necessary.

“People are so daring, and the parents, because they have climbed the ladder to illegality, they believe there is no other way.

“I’ve seen many people who sent their children’s scores to me and asked what they could do. I tell them I will do nothing, and the candidate is admitted—and they thank me. I did nothing,” Oloyede said.

The registrar explained that the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) has eliminated irregularities, making it easier for candidates to track and challenge admission decisions.

“If you find anybody, if you are sure of yourself, you have a score, and this is the UTME score of my child, and you know that you ought to be admitted and you are not admitted, protest to us because CAPS has made everything easy,” he added.

Oloyede further disclosed that since the introduction of CAPS in 2017, there has been no reported case of system failure, describing it as efficient and reliable.

He also revealed that JAMB has strengthened its verification processes, particularly for Direct Entry admissions, to curb fraud and result falsification.

According to him, several fraudulent cases have been uncovered, including instances where candidates presented fake foreign degrees, which were later disowned by the institutions.

He stated, “Since 2023, annually, the rates have gone down. Many people are no longer applying for direct entry because they know we are supervising thoroughly and every year, this year, we have arrested, we have caught 77, but we did more prevention.

“JUPEB, IJMB and all the rest—we check at the point of entry and we made it impossible for them to forge, but there are still degrees

He added that the board now verifies credentials directly with awarding institutions to prevent abuse of the admission process.

“This year, we had about four or five cases where foreign institutions reported that the degree presented was not theirs.

“The answer to your question was that that was possible because at that time, we were not checking the A-level and it’s not part of our duty. That’s why we don’t want to be diverted.

“That’s why we became one of the gurus of the universities to help us not to be diverted every year,” he said. (Nigerian Tribune)