The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned candidates who accept “backdoor” admissions from tertiary institutions outside its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).
The board has claimed they do so at their own risk and may ultimately forfeit recognition as legitimate students.
The warning came as the National Universities Commission (NUC) announced plans to intensify nationwide monitoring of universities to curb illegal admissions beyond approved carrying capacities, while also rolling out stricter measures to regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigerian universities. GeographicReference
The positions were made known during a question-and-answer session at the 2026 Annual Education Summit of the Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ECAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Responding to questions on illegal admissions, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, speaking through the Board’s Public Communication Adviser, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, emphasised that no admission is valid unless processed through CAPS and accompanied by an official JAMB admission letter.
According to him, institutions that admit candidates outside the approved process are engaging in illegality, and such candidates risk being excluded from the official matriculation list.
“We have made it abundantly clear. For you to be regarded as duly admitted, you must print your JAMB admission letter. If an institution gives you admission through the back door without JAMB documentation, that is an illegal admission,” he said.
The Registrar explained that once a candidate accepts admission through CAPS and prints the admission letter, the person’s details are automatically transferred to JAMB’s matriculation list, which serves as the official record of legally admitted students.