The Nigerian government has uncovered a widespread problem of illegal admissions and accreditation fraud in the country's tertiary institutions. According to the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, some institutions have been admitting students outside of the official Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) managed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). This has resulted in over 258,000 students being illegally admitted, with 200,000 of them being admitted into universities.
The government has announced plans to strengthen the accreditation and quality assurance system for tertiary institutions to prevent such malpractices. Dr. Alausa revealed that 58,000 students were illegally admitted into colleges of education, while his estimate put the number of illegal admissions in universities at not less than 200,000. He cited the case of one institution where 8,593 students were legally admitted, while 9,872 were illegally admitted.
The issue of illegal admissions is not a new one, with JAMB warning institutions against admitting students outside of CAPS since its introduction in 2017. In April 2024, the board declared that it would no longer condone illegal admissions conducted outside of CAPS. However, despite these warnings, many institutions have continued to engage in such practices.
The consequences of these malpractices are severe, with thousands of students risking spending years studying only to find out that their certificates are unverified or unaccepted for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme or rejected by professional bodies and employers. The government has warned that it will no longer tolerate such practices and has vowed to heavily sanction regulators who have turned a blind eye to such illegality.
The government has also banned the use of borrowed staff and equipment to obtain accreditation, with institutions now required to be assessed based on the resources they genuinely own and can sustainably provide to students. Dr. Alausa has vowed to ensure that the government ceases to tolerate practices that undermine the quality of tertiary education.
Experts have welcomed the government's move, saying that it is a step in the right direction towards ensuring that tertiary institutions in Nigeria are genuinely committed to providing quality education. They have, however, called for more stringent measures to be put in place to prevent such malpractices from occurring in the future.
The government has given no timeline for the implementation of the new accreditation system, but has assured that it will do everything in its power to ensure that tertiary institutions in Nigeria are genuinely committed to providing quality education. The Minister of Education has also called on stakeholders to support the government's efforts to reform the tertiary education sector.
Key points
- The Nigerian government has uncovered a widespread problem of illegal admissions and accreditation fraud in the country's tertiary institutions.
- The government has announced plans to strengthen the accreditation and quality assurance system for tertiary institutions to prevent such malpractices.
- The consequences of these malpractices are severe, with thousands of students risking spending years studying only to find out that their certificates are unverified or unaccepted.
