In a startling disclosure on 17 July 2025, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) revealed that 9,469 admissions across 20 tertiary institutions were processed outside its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), rendering them “fake” and illegal.
This revelation exposes an entrenched backdoor admissions trade, undermining meritocracy and jeopardising the credibility of Nigeria’s university sector.
Kano State University of Science and Technology led the infraction list with 2,215 flagged offers, followed by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology with 1,215.
Gombe State University (1,164), Emmanuel Alayande University of Education (761) and Federal University of Technology, Owerri (534) also featured prominently.
Smaller institutions such as Anchor University (133) and Michael and Cecilia Ibru University (116) were not exempt.
CAPS, introduced in 2017 to ensure transparency, centralises all offers on an online platform where candidates can track and verify admissions.
Any offer outside this system is automatically nullified, barring beneficiaries from National Youth Service Corps mobilisation.
This latest exposé echoes last year’s scandal, when JAMB uncovered over 3,000 fake certificates and irregular graduations, warning that “any deviation from [CAPS] renders the admission null and void”.
Between 2020 and 2025, more than 6,900 candidates were cleared or penalised for similar infractions, illustrating persistent loopholes that successive administrations have failed to sea.
At last week’s JAMB policy meeting, Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa thundered:
“Any admission conducted outside CAPS, regardless of its intentions, is illegal. Both institutions and the candidates involved will be held accountable. Sanctions may include withdrawal of institutional assets and prosecution of culpable officers or governing council members.”
Such vitriol underscores the federal government’s resolve to purge “backdoor” malpractice from the system.
The fallout is severe: those whose admissions are deemed illegal face exclusion from the mandatory youth‑service programme, effectively stalling careers and inflicting collective reputational damage on their alma maters.
Industry insiders warn of mass legal challenges and burgeoning appeals to the courts, threatening to clog the judiciary and further delay academic calendars.
Ultimately, this scandal demands radical reform: from empowering JAMB with stronger investigative powers, to imposing custodial sentences for racketeers, and enhancing digital resilience of the CAPS platform.
Unless Nigeria’s higher‑education system confronts and dismantles these clandestine networks, it risks chronic brain‑drain and erosion of global competitiveness—an intolerable price for institutional complacency.
