JAMB apprehends 14 candidates with fake NCE certificates, uncovers issuing school
The registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has made a troubly revelation. He noted that 14 candidates were recently caught attempting to use fake Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) certificates to gain admission into universities.
He said the board uncovered the fraudulent scheme involving a College of Education in Ibadan, Oyo state which has been awarding NCE qualifications to individuals who were never duly enrolled in its programmes.
The certificates were allegedly issued to facilitate their admission into other higher institutions in the country through the Direct Entry (DE) process.
Prof. Oloyede revealed the development on Saturday in Abuja while speaking with journalists after monitoring mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
According to Oloyede, the Board has made significant progress in curbing the use of forged documents for DE admissions, noting that 14 candidates were recently caught attempting to use fake certificates.
“A new one that we discovered yesterday in the ongoing registration was that about 20, 30 students who did not go to through NCE were being awarded NCE certificates in order to be able to register for Direct Entry.
“And one of the students who finished from secondary school in 2021, was purportedly admitted to NCE in 2020 in order to graduate in 2023,” Oloyede said.
He noted that some suspects linked to the fraudulent activity have already been apprehended, and praised the Oyo State Commissioner of Police for the swift intervention.
“They are already arrested. We thank the commissioner of police in Oyo State who quickly rose to it, and yesterday I had the report, and I think by Monday the provost, the admission officer, all the students involved – because these students too and their parents if we do not address their involvement we will not be facing the reality of the situation – will face the police. I think what we should do is that everybody involved should be able to face the music, and that is what we are going to do,” he said.
