Kwara State University has withheld the degree certificate of one of its graduates due to a name discrepancy that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has refused to correct for more than four years, despite the National Identity Management Commission having approved the same correction in 2021.

Gloria Akinwande (not real name) attended KWASU's 13th Convocation Ceremony in December 2025, where she joined over 8,000 students in celebrating the completion of their studies. However, months later, she remains without her certificate, unable to move forward with employment or postgraduate opportunities that require proof of her qualification.

In an interview with FIJ on Tuesday, Akinwande explained that the problem originated in 2021 when she discovered an error in her middle name on her NIN slip and requested that NIMC make the necessary correction.

"In 2021, an error was made on the middle name on my NIN slip by the NIMC, and this made me request that the commission correct the error. It did not take the commission long to correct, and I was quite delighted with the development. This was because I thought all my problems had been resolved," she said.

Encouraged by NIMC's swift response, Akinwande submitted the same name correction request to JAMB in the same year, anticipating that the examination body would update its records to reflect the change. Instead, she received a rejection notice in January 2022.

"After this, I also made the same name correction request to JAMB. This was in the same year NIMC made the correction to my name. However, JAMB failed to treat my request," she stated.

According to Akinwande, JAMB informed her that her application had been rejected because it was "contrary to my name correction data collected elsewhere." The explanation left her confused, particularly since NIMC, another government agency, had already approved the correction without issue.

"In addition to the fact that JAMB's response seemed alien to me, the examination body's reluctance to treat my request further led to a bigger problem for me," she said.

That bigger problem materialised at her convocation. While her classmates received their certificates and began pursuing job opportunities and further studies, KWASU informed Akinwande that it could not issue her certificate due to the unresolved name mismatch in her JAMB records.

"Unfortunately, and unlike my peers, I have not been given my degree certificate by the school because of the name discrepancy, and my pending name correction request with JAMB. I have been left hanging," she said.

On Tuesday morning, FIJ sent an email to JAMB requesting clarification on the reasons for the rejection and the prolonged failure to resolve the matter. At press time, the examination body had not responded.