APA – Lagos (Nigeria) A student of the Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi in Anambra State in southeastern Nigeria has owned up to faking her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, giving herself a score of 362 as against an actual score of 249,
Mmesoma Ejikeme said she manipulated the fake result with her phone.
She confirmed before the committee of inquiry set up by the Anambra State Government to look into the examination fraud in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result, conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The Committee said in its eight-page report that the student admitted that she manipulated the fake result herself, using her phone.
Mmesoma claimed that she had the highest score of 362 in the examination after the result was released by JAMB in May and this claim was widely celebrated and it attracted a N3 million scholarship from Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company in Nnewi.
But the announcement by the examination body that the result being paraded by Mmesoma was fake, stirred some form of controversy, which led to the intervention of the Anambra State Government, the National Assembly, civil society organisations, religious groups and some eminent Nigerians.
While the Anambra State Government’s panel was still sitting, JAMB maintained its stand that the student faked the result she was parading and announced a three-year ban on Mmesoma from taking examinations conducted by the Board.
However, the Committee in its report signed by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Paul Nwosu, said that it conducted interviews with relevant parties, including Mmesoma, JAMB officials and other individual(s) involved in the process as well as the principal of Anglican Girls Secondary School.
The report noted that JAMB revealed that Mmesoma made several requests to JAMB asking for her result and each of the times she received in her phone the same score of 249 total aggregate.
The Committee said that in Mmesoma’s submission, she owned up in the presence of her principal of her school and Education Secretary that the narration of JAMB officials was a true and correct description of what happened and that she, however, failed to disclose the motive behind her action.
The committee concluded that Mmesoma should tender a written apology to JAMB, the Anglican Girls Secondary, and the Anambra state government.
Following the report of the Commission, JAMB stated that it has been vindicated over the result manipulation allegations levelled against the student and warned candidates to stay away from fraudulent apps that promise to enhance their scores, arguing that the end result would always be anguish and misery.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company has announced the withdrawal of the N3 million scholarship, stating that the student’s action contravened the values of the company.
GIK/APA