Following cases of fake certification recently detected by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), examination boards in Kenya and Uganda are now writing Nigeria to verify records presented by Nigerian candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in their respective countries.
This was disclosed by JAMB in a document titled “Registrar’s Report on 2023 ADMISSION & 2024 UTME Policy Meeting,” on Wednesday.
In the document, JAMB emphasized the need to shield Nigeria’s postsecondary educational institutions from international shame and vowed not to tamper with student records.
“Uganda and Kenya examination boards are now writing to JAMB to confirm records presented by candidates for admission of candidates. JAMB would not falsify record,” the Nigerian exam body stated.
Recently, the Federal Government suspended the verification of degree certificates from Uganda, Kenya, Benin Republic, Togo and some other countries over allegations of certificate racketeering.
The Federal Government’s decision comes on the heels of an investigation by Daily Nigeria reporter, Umar Audu on how he obtained a degree within six weeks in the Benin Republic.
After his report, the Federal Government set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling to probe the activities of certificate racketeers.
The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, having received the report of the committee, noted that holders of fake degrees from Nigerian and foreign universities would be flushed out of the system.
Some of the recommendations of the committee stressed the need for universities in the country to conduct their admissions via the Central Admissions Processing System popularly known as CAPS and the mandatory submission of matriculation lists to the federal Ministry of Education.
