By Erewunmi Peace

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has uncovered a massive admission fraud involving over 15,000 candidates who forged JAMB admission letters in order to gain mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, revealed the development during the 2025 Batch C pre-mobilisation workshop held in Abuja.

According to him, the discovery followed a renewed verification process between JAMB and NYSC aimed at removing fake admissions from the system. He confirmed that not less than 17 top officials — including deputy vice-chancellors, deputy registrars, and four JAMB staff — are currently in prison custody under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Oloyede described the admission forgery scheme as a threat to the credibility of both university admissions and the NYSC scheme, calling for strict sanctions to deter future fraud.

Strengthened security measures underway

The Registrar disclosed that JAMB and NYSC are enhancing data-sharing and digital verification tools to ensure that only properly admitted graduates proceed to NYSC mobilisation.

“We must protect the integrity of our admission process and the NYSC programme,” he stated.

Security experts say the uncovering of the 15,000 fake admissions represents one of the largest education fraud busts in recent years in Nigeria.

While the officials involved are currently in custody, prosecution by ICPC is still ongoing. No official court sentences have yet been confirmed as at press time.

JAMB urged Nigerians, especially students and parents, to avoid illegal admissions and ensure all academic documents are properly verified.