Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, one time Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, says there is need for Nigerians to promote the thoroughness of the examinations conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board rather than discredit it.
According to Okebukola, discrediting the effort of the examination body can be detrimental to the growth of the entire education system.
Okebukola made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos.
He was reacting to the alleged fake Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result being paraded by Joy Ejikeme, a female student from Anambra State.
According to him, there is hanky-panky in the result Ejikeme obtained at the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Okebukola said: “The findings from my usually-reliable sources confirm that there is some hanky-panky with the results which Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma claims to have obtained in the 2023 UTME.
“I think many people are unaware of the thoroughness of Prof. Ishaq Oloyede in promoting the integrity of JAMB-conducted examinations.
“He loves all candidates and will stop at nothing to ensure that unadulterated results are published and duly qualified candidates are admitted to our tertiary institutions based on existing vacancies.
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“On the other hand, he will also stop at nothing to penalise any centre or candidate whose integrity will tarnish the image of JAMB.
“You cannot get away with bad practice with Prof. Oloyede.
“He is globally-acclaimed as a leading light in higher education in Africa.
“The indisputable facts that I have pointed to my advising the candidate to subject herself to the decision of JAMB.”
Recall that controversy has continued to trail Ejikeme’s claim of being the highest scorer in the 2023 UTME.
Ejikeme, an indigene of Anambra State, in a video that went viral on various social media platforms, said she had scored 362 in the JAMB-organised Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, making her the best candidate.
She also claimed that this performance was contrary to the 249 posted by the board as her result, adding that the result she had been displaying was printed from JAMB’s portal.
Ejikeme even went ahead to state that there could be some technical error on her result, on the part of JAMB, a claim that she has allegedly retracted on Tuesday.
However, the JAMB had insisted that the result being paraded by Ejikeme was not hers.
Dr. Fabian Benjamin. Deputy Director Public Affairs and Protocol of the board, had maintained that Ejikeme’s result was manipulated.
Benjamin stated that already, she had attracted a N3 million scholarship from a businessman and was set to be further honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its officials put a call across to the board to confirm the result.
According to him, it is on account of the request that it was revealed that Ejikeme scored 249 and not 362 as she claimed.
Benjamin had stated that following this act of shame on the part of Ejikeme, the board had forthwith withdrawn her original result of 249 and subsequently banned her from participating in its examination for three years.
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