…as Uganda, Kenya demand verification of Nigerians’ admission records
Examination bodies in Nigeria are raising concerns over troubling signals pointing to a rise in examination malpractices and certificate forgeries in the country.
Whereas the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) is worried about the cases of fake certifications it detected recently, the Nigerian office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) is raising the alarm over rising incidence of exam malpractices.
This is even as examination boards in Kenya and Uganda have been writing Nigeria to verify records presented by Nigerian candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in their respective countries.
JAMB recently reported certificate verification requests from Kenya and Uganda in a document titled ‘Registrar’s Report on 2023 ADMISSION & 2024 UTME Policy Meeting’ obtained by Channels Television on Wednesday.
According to the document, JAMB stressed the need to protect Nigeria’s tertiary institutions from international disrepute, adding that it would not falsify the records of any students.
“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.
Days back, JAMB stated that 1,665 fake A-Level results were discovered during the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise. It further said the exercise was riddled with corruption.
JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, revealed that 815 A-Level certificates, 453 university diplomas, and 397 certificates from Colleges of Education were fake. Oloyede expressed shock that out of 148 direct entry applicants to Bayero University, only six of the certificates verified were genuine. He said that JAMB would form an A-level verification task force, create a single digital platform to verify the results and ensure a ‘no verification, no admission’ policy.
Similarly, Amos Dangut, head of the WAEC Nigeria Office, said in an address last week that 215,627 or 11.92 per cent of the 1,805,216 candidates who sat for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) had had their results withheld on account of exam malpractices.
To make matters worse, Dangut said WAEC observed that persons assigned to roles of supervision and authority and in whom much confidence was reposed were also caught in the web of the malpractices.
These, he said, include school principals, teachers, exam invigilators, supervisors, and examiners.
Dangut stressed that the Council would continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractices, noting that schools, supervisors, teachers, and candidates involved in such practices were undermining the educational system.
Analysts have suggested that Nigeria would do well to follow in the path of the United States, the United Kingdom, China, India, Australia, and Canada and fully digitise and share examination and certification processes.
These countries’ academic institutions are reported to share verification access to employers and transcripts with academic assessors and by so doing have significantly curtailed fake certificates and the unwholesome spin-offs.
