Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has resumed the 2023 Direct Entry (DE) registration exercise.

JAMB had announced the suspension of its ongoing 2023 Direct Entry registrations on February 21 to enable the deployment of certain measures, designed to better serve prospective candidates.

The registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, who made this known at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, said the DE registration would come to a close on 28th April, 2023.

He lamented the high level of the forgery of A-Level certificates used for the registration, saying that the Board has introduced new guidelines to checkmate such acts.

Oloyede said, “You will recall that the Board commenced the 2023 Direct Entry registration on Monday, 20th February, 2023, but had to immediately suspend it following the discovery of the plethora of devices and machinations to circumvent and compromise the standard of A ‘level qualifications required from DE candidates.

“Recall that recent joint operations of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on DE qualifications brought to light some of these unsavoury and nefarious activities.

“Bayero University, Kano (BUK) has also consistently brought to the fore the high rate of forgery of A’Level qualifications for DE.

For instance, it was discovered that, in previous years, some candidates used unacceptable and forged A’ level certificates/qualifications to register for Direct Entry and eventually got admitted. For example, of the 148 candidates verified by BUK, only six were found to be genuine. By implication 142 of the results were forged.

“The board, concerned stakeholders and institutions are working assiduously to detect such and the ones already found, are being dealt with according to the provisions of the law.

“In order to further checkmate the anomaly and to also prevent recurrence of such irregularity, the Board has decided that the 2023 DE registrations will not only be restricted to JAMB (Professional Test Centres (PTCs) but will also be done under strict supervision.

“The Board has provided additional guidelines to all DE registration outlets (JAMB-owned centres), Officers of the Board and candidates on the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise.

“At the point of registration, all candidates must fill in the registration/matriculation number of the previous school attended where the qualification was obtained; Subject(s) of qualification and awarding institution actually attended.

”Oloyede said the Board would only accept 13 qualifications/certificates for the 2023 Direct Entry registration exercise, which include first degree, university diploma, Higher National Diploma (HND), Ordinary National Diploma /National Diploma (OND/ND) and Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), amongst others.

He, however, said that the 127 candidates who had earlier registered for the 2023 DE before the exercise was suspended, would be requested to return to the registration centres and update their application.

The JAMB boss also revealed that the Data Bank put in place to address challenges associated with the A ’level qualifications has now been renamed Nigeria Post-secondary Education Data System (NIPEDS).

On the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Oloyede said JAMB has introduced new measures in the conduct of the exam and called for understanding.

He said, “The board has instituted some measures which are to be deployed during the 2023 UTME exercise. Despite the fact that the innovations have been tested and certified, it is not unlikely that some hiccups might spring up when the new technology is deployed live and nationwide. We therefore solicit your support and understanding as we promptly address any unforeseen circumstances.