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Tag: Fabian Benjamin

  • CAPS: JAMB sends important message to admission seekers

    CAPS: JAMB sends important message to admission seekers

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has advised admission seekers not to accept admissions outside its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports JAMB developed CAPS to automate admission processes into higher institutions of learning in the country.

    JAMBD advised admission seekers not to accept admission outside CAPS on Thursday following directives to tertiary institutions to make disclosures on candidates admitted outside the CAPS from 2017 to date.

    Following the directives, a large number of candidates had thronged JAMB offices to have the issue resolved. However, the examination body in a statement by its Public Communication Advisor (PCA), Fabian Benjamin, Ph.D, noted that the focus of the directive is on candidates’ actions but with the institutions.

    The statement reads: “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has observed a large number of candidates thronging its offices to resolve issues related to the disclosure of candidates admitted outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) from 2017 to date.

    “While we appreciate the enthusiasm, we must correct the misconception that the focus is on candidates’ actions. The true emphasis lies with the institutions, which must disclose all candidates admitted outside CAPS before the August 31st, 2024 deadline. This directive requires immediate attention and compliance.

    “We urge institutions to carefully review our initial letter and ensure full compliance, as failure to disclose will result in severe consequences. Candidates are also reminded not to accept admissions outside CAPS.

    “The Board reiterate that candidates not disclosed by institutions would not be entertained. The Board will not tolerate any condonement of undisclosed admissions moving forward”.

  • JAMB insists on new minimum age for admission

    JAMB insists on new minimum age for admission

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has maintained that the minimum age for admission into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session remained 16 years.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor (CPA), disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the board’s headquarters on Sunday, in Abuja.

    “For the 2024 admission cycle, candidates who will be at least sixteen (16) years old at the time of admission will be considered eligible,” Dr Benjamin stated.

    Benjamin said the decision follows the directive from the Chairman of the 2024 tertiary admission policy meeting, who is also the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, that the extant policy of 6-3-3-4 be enforced only from the 2025 session.

    “The alarming avalanche of obviously false affidavits and upsurge of doctored upward age-adjustments on NIN slips being submitted to JAMB to upgrade recorded age is dangerous, inimical and unnecessary. Only those below 16 would not and should not be admitted in accordance with the decision of the 2024 Policy Meeting,” he stressed.

    JAMB directs institutions to disclose illegal admissions within 1 month

    Meanwhile, JAMB has directed all institutions to disclose within one month, details of all candidates they illegally admitted prior to 2017.

    Benjamin said that the board had resolved that it would no longer entertain absorption of illegal admissions by institutions through the window of “Condonment of Illegal Admissions”, without registration number.

    The move, he explained, was aimed at curbing illegal admissions, falsification of records and ensuring compliance with the provisions of Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).

    He said that all institutions were being reminded that JAMB had previously requested the disclosure of all illegitimate admissions offered to candidates outside CAPS, between 2017 and 2020, due to abuse of window.

    “This directive followed the waiver on recommendation of JAMB by the former Minister of Education, which allowed institutions to transit to conducting admissions exclusively through the CAPS platform in 2020.

    “We then opened the window of Condonment of Undisclosed Institutional Illegal Admissions (CUIIA), 2017 to 2020.

    “Regrettably, the board has observed that some institutions have continued to admit candidates outside CAPS and subsequently apply for this CUIIA.

    “It is quite embarrassing that some institutions have been found to backdate such recent admissions to 2020 to fit within the time frame of CUIIA.

    “Consequently, the board is terminating the aspect of CUIIA process which allows completely unregistered candidates to be introduced to the system.

    “CAPS is the only authorised platform for admissions; those who have registration but were illegally admitted between 2017 to 2020 would soon be denied the opportunity of the waiver, unless they are disclosed within the next one month.”

    The period of disclosure, he stated, begins from August 1.

    Benjamin added that the board would not tolerate further, any undisclosed admission by any institution, while urging candidates to pursue education through legitimate and recognised means, so they don’t fall victims.

    He also advised candidates seeking admissions to be cautious of illegitimate and unrecognised part-time programmes, which he added, would also not be tolerated under “regularisation or condonment.”

    Benjamin stated that the board distant itself from trending and strange admissions practice by some institutions, claiming to enrol candidates into “daily part-time” by some polytechnics and “Top- up” by some universities.

    “It is crucial to clarify that no such programmes are approved by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) or National Universities Commission (NUC),” he said.

    Both programmes, Benjamin added, are alien to the education system in Nigeria and any attempt to enrol into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme with them would be flawed and futile.

    He also reiterated the board’s decision that only candidates who were at least 16 years old at the time of admissions would be considered eligible for the 2024 admission cycle.

    This decision, he explained, followed the directive from Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education and chairman of the 2024 tertiary admissions policy meeting, that the policy of 6-3-3-4 would be enforced from 2025.

    “Only those below 16 years will not and should not be admitted in accordance with the decision of the 2024 Policy meeting,” Benjamin said.

  • JAMB to decide cut-off mark for varsities, others June 24

    JAMB to decide cut-off mark for varsities, others June 24

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has set June 24, 2023 to decide the cut-off mark for 2023 admissions into universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports this was contained in the latest edition of JAMB weekly bulletin made available by the board on Monday.

    The Director of Public Affairs, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin explained that the event which will hold at the National Judicial Institute will have in attendance all heads of tertiary institutions and regulatory bodies such as the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education, the National Commission for Colleges of Education, among others.

    He said, “Only two representatives each from respective tertiary institutions, comprising the Head of the Institution and one official of the institution, who shall be nominated by the Head, will be welcomed.

    “Other critical issues slated for discussion at the Policy Meeting aside from issues emanating from the presentation of the Registrar, JAMB, on the just-concluded UTME are other issues of national importance, particularly as they concern the education sector.

    “The meeting is also expected to chart policy directions for the nation’s tertiary institutions, set admission guidelines, present and analyse application statistics, and candidates’ performance, as well as evaluate the 2023 admission exercise.

    “Furthermore, the policy meeting, among other things, would decide the acceptable minimum admissible score to be applied in all admissions to be undertaken by all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.”

  • Direct entry registration to close on May 30th – JAMB

    Direct entry registration to close on May 30th – JAMB

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has said that the 2023 Direct Entry (DE) e-PIN sales would close on May 26, stating that the e-PIN would end on May 30.

    JAMB made this known via a statement signed and released by the board’s Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Tuesday.

    He said it was later suspended to facilitate the incorporation of certain safeguards designed to enhance the sanctity of the exercise.

    Benjamin said the 2023 DE registration is unique among many others.

    He said it came with some features to enhance the board’s capacity to permanently address those loopholes, hitherto being exploited by some vested interests.

    ”It is, therefore, not at all surprising to witness the surge in the number of candidates in one or two of our offices.

    ”The new regime which has exposed the quantum of cases of falsifications and other infractions in the DE value chain,“he said.

    He said the exercise had enabled the board to capture only deserving candidates, with only pockets of outstanding candidates remaining in a couple of board’s offices, particularly in Lagos.

    The spokesman said that the board had adopted a scheduling system, where candidates are allocated to specific days for their registration to preclude any further incidence of overcrowding,” he said.

    He said the board was aware of the unwholesome actions of some tutorial centres and some desperate parents, conniving with some A’ level tutorial centres to perpetrate acts inimical to the education sector and national interests.

    He said the board would not hesitate to impose appropriate sanctions on any A’level awarding institutions found wanting.

    ”All A’level institutions are enjoined to be vigilant as there are deliberate intentions by desperate candidates to compromise their operations.

    ”All genuine aspiring candidates, who are yet to register for the exercise are urged to register as the board would not entertain any further extension,” he said.

  • 2023 UTME results ready May 2 as JAMB reschedules outstanding exams

    2023 UTME results ready May 2 as JAMB reschedules outstanding exams

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says results for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be released on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

    JAMB spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, in a statement, also said all candidates, who could not sit the 2023 UTME within their scheduled time owing to no fault of theirs, would be rescheduled to take the examination on Saturday, May 6, 2023.

    He said the candidates under these categories are those who were verified at their centres but could not sit the examination, those who could not be biometrically verified, and those with mismatched data.

    “The Board would be releasing the results of candidates, who have taken the examination so far on Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023. The Board had delayed the release to ensure that all necessary screening are concluded besides ensuring that the mean and standard deviation are reasonably obtained before releasing these results.

    “As candidates check their results on Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023, those who sat the examination but had challenges without being aware of such, would not see their results but would instead see their notification for rescheduled examination.

    “Consequently, all candidates who sat the examination are urged to check their results on or before Thursday, 8th May, 2023,” the statement read.

    He said out of the 1,586,765 candidates that indicated interest in sitting the examination, only 80,166 are now outstanding.

    “On the first day of the 2023 UTME, a number of candidates in some centres could not sit the examination as well as in some centres in subsequent days due to diverse reasons. Though a reasonable number of them have been rescheduled and have taken the examination, some are yet to take their examination.

    “As part of the decisions reached at the end of an emergency management meeting held on Sunday, 31st April, 2023, the Board has fixed Saturday, 6th May, 2023, for all categories of candidates who have not sat their examination, as listed below, to take their examination,” the statement added.

  • 2023 UTME: JAMB sends message to candidates who missed exams

    2023 UTME: JAMB sends message to candidates who missed exams

    JAMB has rescheduled examination for candidates who technical challenges prevented them from writing the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Tuesday.

    The board’s spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin, made the declaration in Abuja on Tuesday after the board’s management meeting at the close of the first day of the examination.

    “Following the announcement, candidates who for technical reasons could not take the examination are to print new examination notifications early on April 26 to know their rescheduled sessions.

    “It is to be noted that about 100 centres out of the 708 centres participating in the 2023 UTME experienced technical challenges that prevented the candidates from taking the examination,’’ he stated.

    Benjamin reiterated JAMB’s determination to deploy world-class assessment in line with global best practices to deliver quality assessment and regretted any inconveniences experienced by candidates and their parents.

    He added that challenges encountered arose from some novel features deployed by the Board to safeguard the sanctity of the examination to checkmate examination misconduct being perpetrated.

    “The Board reiterates the commitment of its technical team working round-the-clock to ensure that Wednesday’s exercise is devoid of hitches.

    “Meanwhile, the Board assures Nigerians that no candidate would be denied the right of taking his or her examination.

    “If any challenges are experienced, candidates would be rescheduled to take the examination on the next available date and space,’’ Benjamin stressed.

  • BREAKING: JAMB extends 2023 DE registration

    BREAKING: JAMB extends 2023 DE registration

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has extended the closing date for the 2023 Direct Entry (DE) registration by one week.

    This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday by the board’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, after the board’s management meeting.

    Benjamin said that the DE registration exercise, which commenced on Monday, March 20, 2023, and billed to end on Thursday, April 20, 2023, had been extended by one week starting from Friday, April 21, 2023.

    According to him, the extension was partly to give all holders of Cambridge A/Level Certificates, who were unable to register for the exercise on account of some issues associated with the verification of their certificates another opportunity to do so.

    He said it would as well accommodate others, who wish to register but were unable to do so within the stipulated time.

    ”It should be noted that in its bid to ensure  the Cambridge A/L Certificate is onboarded in the verification process, the British Council is partnering with the board.

    ”And as such would be providing a verification portal for the seamless verification of its Cambridge Certificates as obtained with other categories of A/Level certificates.

    ”It is this provision of a verification portal by the Council that informed the board’s decision to reconsider its earlier stand on non-inclusion of Cambridge certificate for DE registration.

    ”Consequently, all holders of Cambridge Certificates, who desire to register for the 2023 Direct Entry, can now proceed to any of the board’s offices nearest to them to register for the exercise,” he said.

    Benjamin added that the consideration does not in any way include candidates awaiting Cambridge Certificates as “Awaiting Results” would not be accepted.

    ”It would be recalled that the board, after series of discoveries of falsification of  A/Level results, modified its DE registration platform to ensure, among others, that only certificates with verifiable processes are allowed as entry requirements for the DE exercise.

    ”To streamline the process, the board had also published a number of certificates that are allowed for DE registration which had, hitherto, excluded the Cambridge Certificate.

    ”It was against this backdrop that the British Council had dispatched a high-level delegation, which met with the management of the board to explore the possibility of establishing a credible verification platform for its Cambridge A/L Certificates.

    ”And by so doing, curb incidences of falsification of results as being experienced with many other A/L certificates approved as part of DE entry requirements,” Benjamin said.

  • BREAKING: JAMB fixes new date for 2023 UTME

    BREAKING: JAMB fixes new date for 2023 UTME

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced a  new date for the commencement of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

    The board disclosed this in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Sunday.

    Benjamin said the UTME which was earlier scheduled to commence on April 29, would now start on April 25, 2023.

    He also said the board would hold its rescheduled mock-UTME on April 18, 2023.

    ”It would be recalled that JAMB had earlier conducted its 2023 Mock-UTME on Thursday,  March 30 in 725 centres across the country.

    ”However, the exercise ran into some technical hitches in some centres, thereby denying some candidates the opportunity to sit for  the examination.

    ”The board’s mock examination was designed for the purpose of testing its preparedness and that of its partners for the UTME as well as give prospective candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience of the CBT test environment.

    ”It is, therefore,  in order to give those candidates, who were unable to sit for the examination owing to no fault of theirs, the opportunity to take the examination that the mock examination had been rescheduled to hold on Tuesday, April 18,,” he said.

    He said that candidates who were present and screened for the examination but could not sit for it  had  been rescheduled to retake the  mock examination on April 18.

    Benjamin, therefore, said  the result of the candidates who successfully took the mock examination on March 30, had been released.

    He also said the board had brought forward the conduct of its 2023 UTME which was earlier scheduled to hold from Saturday, April 29, to Tuesday,  April 25.

    He said the adjustment in the date of the UTME was to accommodate some other major and critical national assignments.

    ”By so doing, the board hopes that no citizen will be denied the opportunity of exercising their civic responsibilities.

    ”It should be noted that the board does not have the liberty of shifting forward its examination as other public examinations are billed to commence their exercises in the early part of May 2023.

    “Yet another factor is the need to accommodate those institutions with stable academic calendar to resume as scheduled,” he added.

    He said the board would continue to partner with relevant agencies of government to ensure that its candidates got the best.

    He said the board also solicited the understanding of all as it delivered on its critical mandate.

  • UTME: JAMB says no challenges with CAPS

    UTME: JAMB says no challenges with CAPS

    The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says there are no challenges with the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) as it concerns the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    This is contained in a statement signed by the Head, Public Affairs and Protocol of the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

    According to Benjamin, it has come to the knowledge of the board that some institutions are experiencing challenges accessing their CAPS.

    Benjamin said in reality, after updating the CAPS platform to improve security to serve the institutions and the public better, all users of the platform were mandated to change their existing passwords to which an advisory on the landing page of the CAPS platform had been provided.

    He said that institutions were, therefore, urged to carefully read the instructions contained in the advisory.

    He said that other contributing factors could be that some institutions had logins that do not conform to the new security standard, hence such  institutions would need to update their profiles with new email addresses to be able to access their CAPS.

    He said that the Registrar of JAMB, Prof  Ishaq Oloyede, had directed that these should be rewritten in clear and unambiguous language for all to understand.

    “Worthy of note is that some institutions had typographical errors on their email addresses, thus, preventing the successful delivery of the new passwords.

    “However, any institution, which after reading and following the instructions, still encounter challenges, should contact the Director, Admissions, JAMB, for assistance.

    “The board also noticed that at the inception of CAPS, some institutions used the personal email addresses of officers responsible for access to CAPS to create their CAPS profile.

    ”This has contributed to the inability of these institutions to promptly access their CAPS profile as the new passwords were sent only to the registered email addresses,” he said.

    He, however, said that institutions were advised to, henceforth, use only official email addresses to create such sensitive profiles to avoid any future challenges.

    Benjamin, therefore, said that institutions that failed to receive their new passwords were hereby encouraged to confirm the authenticity of their email addresses from their Desk Officers.

  • JAMB makes personal email compulsory for UTME registration

    JAMB makes personal email compulsory for UTME registration

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made personal email compulsory for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports JAMB to have stated that as from January 31, no candidate will be registered without providing an email address.

    This is contained in a statement issued by its Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Abuja on Monday.

    Benjamin said that the review of the advisory on the ongoing UTME registration by JAMB was to ensure that best practices were followed in the process of capturing all relevant data pertaining to the candidates.

    He said that the latest advisory, aside from aiding in eliciting relevant and up-to-date data of candidates, was also imperative in facilitating the transmission of urgent and vital communication to candidates cheaply and efficiently.

    “Furthermore, the e-mail provides more flexibility in communication and is a more professional way of reaching out to candidates.

    “Candidates are, therefore, advised to get their genuine e-mail addresses before proceeding to UTME registration.

    ”In addition, candidates are to ensure that their passwords are kept securely, as the board does not retrieve lost e-mail passwords or change e-mail addresses once registered,” he said.