By Chika Nwachukwu
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has warned newly-established, upgraded and adopted tertiary institutions against engaging in illegal admission, stressing that there will be no room for regularisation.
Speaking at an interactive session with principal officers of the affected institutions Monday in Abuja, JAMB’s Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede emphasised that all admissions must be routed through the Central Admissions Processing System, CAPS, and strictly follow due process.
“CAPS ensures transparency, fairness and integrity in admissions. Any institution attempting to bypass this platform risks nullifying such admission,” Oloyede said.
He called for the full compliance of the over 80 new institutions recently approved by the federal government to the admission procedures.
The registrar explained that CAPS, introduced in 2017, automates and standardises the admission process, while the Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System, IBASS, launched in 2018, facilitates clear communication and programme eligibility checks.
According to him, both platforms, now upgraded with institutional mail services, serve as JAMB’s sole official communication channels.
The JAMB boss lauded the federal government, under President Bola Tinubu, for its commitment to expand access to tertiary education, citing the approval of 22 new universities, 33 new polytechnics and monotechnics, and 12 new colleges of education across the country between late 2024 and 2025.
He noted that while CAPS and IBASS accounts had been created for these institutions, only programmes cleared by the National Universities Commission, NUC, National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, and National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, would be activated.
Oloyede also outlined the proper procedures for onboarding candidates, stressing that institutions must nominate designated officers to manage CAPS and IBASS access.
“JAMB will provide full technical support, but compliance is non-negotiable. Institutions must avoid shortcuts. There is no justification for admitting students through the backdoor,” he added.
A live demonstration of the CAPS and IBASS systems followed the session to acquaint the institutions with their operational protocols.
Also speaking, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Professor William Qurix said the meeting was to acquaint heads of institutions with the workings and operations of CAPS and IBAS through which the institutions can communicate and interact with JAMB.
Qurix disclosed that some candidates had already registered for JAMB before some new universities or polytechnics were approved or established.
According to him, such institutions would normally find it difficult to secure candidates to come to them.
“But this process has been cleared for us and we are quite enlightened. JAMB gave us assurances of prompt response to inquiries that might come from heads of institutions, through their CAPS or IBAS system. So definitely, this meeting has enlightened us and it will have a great impact,” he said.
Earlier, the Director of Colleges at the Ministry of Education, Dr Uche Uba noted that there are some criteria set by the National Universities Commission which which must be followed by the new institutions.
Uba urged the colleges of education upgraded to dual mode to meet officials of the NUC to familiarise themselves with the criteria.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of NCCE, Professor Paulinus Okwelle commended JAMB for its efforts to establish a seamless admission process for tertiary institutions.
Okwelle encouraged the new colleges of education approved to run dual mode system (Degrees and National Certificate on Education) to follow the laid down processes for admission to keep them in competition.
