Don’t accept admission without our letterhead paper, JAMB warns candidates

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has advised candidates to reject admission offer into any tertiary institution not done on its official letter headed paper.

This is contained in a weekly bulletin issued by Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesman, in Abuja, on Monday.

The exam body also warned tertiary institutions to stop offering admissions to applicants through their own portals.

Benjamin said offering admissions via school portal is an abuse of the automated central admissions processing system (CAPS) which the board uses to process admission into undergraduate programmes in tertiary institutions in the country.

He also said any candidate who accepts such admission offer does so at his or her own risk, adding that the candidate may not participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

“The attention of the board has been drawn to the purported offer of admissions to candidates through some institutions’ portals. The board wishes to disassociate itself from such as it is a flagrant abuse of the automated Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) which is the only credible avenue for admission into undergraduate programmes of all tertiary institutions in the country,” the bulletin read.

“Institutions who offer admission outside CAPS do so to avoid equitable and just process which CAPS enforces. It would be recalled that the board had announced that it would stop condoning illegitimate admission from 2017 admission exercise.

“The board states unequivocally that any candidate who accepts any offer of admission outside CAPS does so at his or her own risk.

“The board reiterates that any admission into First Degree, National Certificate of Education, National Diploma and National Innovative Diploma not on the official letter headed paper of the board or outside CAPS is null, void and would not be condoned by JAMB.

“Institutions are again reminded that admission made outside CAPS would jeopardise the participation of the innocent candidates in the compulsory National Youth Service Corps mobilisation exercise or any job placement which requires the certification or endorsement of the board.

“Institutions cannot publish any admission list which has not been approved on CAPS. Therefore publishing an admission list prior to its processing on CAPS is improper and a source of confusion as many of such admissions were found to be inappropriate and had to be reversed.”

The spokesman cited a case of a university which has a quota of 50 for LL.B programme but offered admission and received acceptance fee from 350 candidates.

He said the admission offer was not processed on CAPS, adding that the council of legal education would not have allowed such case.

Bejamin said the reversal of over 300 candidates is now a subject of litigation between the university and the candidates.