JAMB uncovers College of Education issuing fake NCE certificates for Direct Entry admissions

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has uncovered a fraudulent scheme involving a College of Education in Ibadan, which has been awarding Nigeria Certificate in Education (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.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, revealed the development on Saturday in Abuja while speaking with journalists after monitoring  mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

“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, 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.

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