By Agebcy Report

Nigeria’s apex Universities regulatory body, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has warned universities in the country to cease offering admissions to underaged candidates.

The Registrar, JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who gave the warning on Tuesday said that the illegal admission necessitate ‘regularisation’ after admission has been offered.

Prof Oloyede handed the warning in Lagos on Tuesday at the opening of the seventh biennial conference of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria.

JAMB regularisation is a process overseen by JAMB in Nigeria to validate and formalise the admission of students who were admitted into tertiary institutions without proper documentation or through informal means.

He lamented that the issue of regularisation had denied most candidates the opportunity to participate in the National Youth Service Corps.

Themed “Effective University Governance: Role of Stakeholders” JAMB boss said that for the sake of accountability, data protection and integrity of the nation, this act needed to stop, adding that anything irregular was illegal.

 “I want to discuss what I call illegal admission. Many Vice-Chancellors don’t like the word, the truth is that no need to regularise what is regular.

“Calling for regularisation after admission is illegal. Some candidates can’t go for NYSC because they were not properly admitted,” he said.

He also complained that admission of underaged and diploma candidates was also illegal admissions.

He said, “About two months ago, I received a letter from a European country to confirm if a student graduated from a particular university because she is 15 years old and applied for a postgraduate programme. The question they asked me was ‘Is this possible in Nigeria?’

“Also illegal admission of diploma students needs to stop because last year, we admitted 9,000 diploma students; I was alarmed that about 3,000 students came from a particular university.

“Every one of us should be accountable because all these acts can damage our education system.”