Some parents have called for the scrapping of the Joint Admission And Matriculation Board, JAMB, as a result of the uproar trailing the alleged manipulation of the Unified Tartary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result by a candidate, Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma.
Parents who reacted to the following questions “Should JAMB be scrapped? How useful is JAMB with the age of Post-UTME? Is it all about the revenue that will be mostly swallowed by the snake?” on Facebook, said, JAMB should be scrapped.
According to Shedrack Onitsha Ogaga, JAMB “has served its purpose, schools should be allowed to conduct their exams,” while Endurance Chuks Onwuka wrote, “JAMB has since overlived its relevance.”
Also in his reaction, Oris Lilian said, “JAMB IS NO LONGER RELEVANT, TOO MANY IRREGULARITIES,” and another parent, Ike Onyia, said, “Its continuous existence is questionable. More so, some of the actions of the organisation are more of politics than its mandate.”
Silas Ilomechine summed it up by saying, “I have always advocated for the scrapping of JAMB.”
The House of Representatives had on Wednesday, directed the JAMB to desist from any further action on the issue.
The House also called on JAMB to lift the sanction of barring the candidate from participating in the examination for three years. and called for independent examiners to examine the girl’s script to determine her score.
It also resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged manipulation and report back in three weeks.
The House also resolved to probe JAMB facilities with a view to averting such a situation in the future.
The House expanded the scope of the committee to probe the issue of special centres for examinations in the country.
The House said it was aware that Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State sat for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations and scored 362.
The House also said it was aware that on 2 July 2023 JAMB, Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin made a public pronouncement accusing Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma of manipulating her UTME results that she actually scored 249 instead of 362 as claimed.
It said it was further aware that Miss. Ejikeme Mmesoma came out to defend herself, that she actually printed the result from JAMB.
The House noted the girl had been a brilliant child all through her nursery and tertiary education, coming first in all the examinations she has taken before the UTME, hence she posited that she is not capable of manipulating her UTME result.
The House said it was cognizant of the fact that uploading or downloading results of examinations or polls electronically, in Nigeria, glitches can occur at any time, hence the need to establish the facts before any blames.
It expressed worry that JAMB Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, alleged that some of the 2023 UTME candidates are parading fake scores in order to get an undue advantage from the public, hence the need to investigate the allegation.
The House noted that JAMB is primarily charged with the general control of the conduct of matriculation examinations for admissions into Universities, Polytechnics, and Colleges of Education in Nigeria.
It also noted that graduating Secondary School leavers and others with prerequisite WAEC, NECO and other qualifying results apply to sit for the UTME through JAMB every year to gain admission into Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
The House further noted that students who sat for the UTME are expected to log into the JAMB portal to check their results once released by JAMB.
Parents of Mmesoma, has also, raised alarm that their daughter is traumatized as a result of harassment due to the alleged forged result.
