Although JAMB did not announce her as the overall best candidate, she was celebrated for her supposed heroics.

Innocent Chukwuma, the founder of Innoson Motors, also awarded N3 million scholarship to the student.

The controversy started on Sunday when JAMB argued that the student actually scored 249 — not 362 as claimed.

The board said the student allegedly manipulated her result to “deceive the public to fraudulently obtain a scholarship and other recognitions”.

“Immediately the result was released, she checked her result. Instead of sending her result to 55019 to pull her result, she sent a message to UTME 55019, but the machine now sent her result of 249, breaking it down into the various subjects,” JAMB said.

“So, she now doctored that result. Put the marks the way she wants them — 362 — and she sent them back to 55019. So, the code also returned her original result again.”

The student, however, dismissed, the allegation and maintained that she printed the result from the JAMB  portal.

Amid the controversy, JAMB withdrew the student’s result and barred her from taking part in the UTME for the next three years over the incident.

QUESTIONS OVER JAMB’S HANDLING OF THE CASE

The way JAMB handled the case has continued to elicit intense debate in some quarters.

One of the major criticisms of the board has to do with the timing of its statement released on July 2.

Reports of Mmesoma’s supposed 362 UTME score and the claim that she was the overall best student in the exam have been widely publicised since May.

Some Nigerians, therefore, wondered why it took JAMB so long before addressing the issue.

Another question being raised over JAMB’s handling of the matter is the board’s decision to go public with the issue without concluding its findings with the Department of State Services (DSS).

The board had earlier confirmed that it involved the DSS to probe the case because of its initial assumption that Mmesoma lacked the capacity to forge her result.

The board, however, neither revealed if the investigation had been concluded nor addressed the outcome of such a probe.

Speaking on the matter, Ambrose Igboke, a policy analyst, said the UTME result saga reflects the “incompetency” of public institutions in Nigeria.

“The case of Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma is a very sad one. Firstly, it goes to show the level of incompetence of our public institutions. An institution like JAMB should be an institution that is professionally handled,” he said.

“According to the narrative of the young girl, JAMB complained that there was a discrepancy between her result and that of the board. Then, the DSS was involved in the case. The little girl went to make a statement with DSS and JAMB was aware. The DSS promised to investigate the matter.

“Without waiting for the outcome of the investigation of the DSS, JAMB went on to issue a press release. It would have been okay if JAMB stopped there, but no, JAMB did not stop there. The board went ahead to accuse the girl of manually manipulating the process and inflating her marks.

“In the same breath, JAMB went ahead to say the girl used a fake app to manipulate her result and inflate the scores. How can you manually manipulate the scores and at the same time you are using an app? So, there are contradictions in the press release by JAMB.

“That is a very big allegation, therefore you are tarnishing the student’s reputation and her image without waiting for the outcome of an investigation.

“This shows how our public institutions work in Nigeria, they are never thorough. They don’t give room for following the law, they are brash, and they think they are above the law.

“This is unacceptable and it should be pursued to a logical conclusion. I call on civil society organisations (CSOs) and non government organisations (NGOs) to ensure that this matter is brought to a logical conclusion.”

There are also concerns over the publication of the pupil’s details by JAMB.

Although the student’s date of birth — April 2, 2004 — showed she is 19, many argued that JAMB ought to have treated her as a minor due to the weight of the allegation.

Sharing his opinion, Igboke, who is the chairman of the Enugu state chapter of public affairs analysts of Nigeria, said JAMB should have investigated the case “discreetly” and prosecuted those behind it.

Also speaking, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, national coordinator for Education Rights Campaign (ERC), described JAMB’s handling of the case as a “media trial”.

“What I can say at this state given the several revelations on social media is that it is wrong to subject a child to a media trial, regardless of whatever such a child has done. I know some will say Ejikeme Mmesoma is 18 or 19 years old but that does not matter. As an educational body, we expect something better from JAMB,” he said.

‘JAMB SHOULD STOP COMMENTING ON FORGERY CASE, ALLOW INDEPENDENT PROBE’

Many stakeholders in the education sector have called for an independent investigation into the matter to ascertain the truth.

The Anambra state government had earlier constituted a panel to investigate the controversy surrounding the student’s result.

Commenting on this, Soweto called on JAMB to stop making further comments on the matter until an independent investigation is conducted.

“There is no certainty as to which side is wrong at the moment despite the multitude of revelations from both parties. We know a series of efforts that have been made in recent years to improve the functioning of JAMB,” he said.

“For us in the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), the best way out is to allow and independent and democratically constituted public probe. This would allow members of the public, especially stakeholders in the educational sector, to review the issues and see what exactly is the problem.

“For now, I think JAMB should pause in whatever it is doing until an independent investigation is conducted. Even if the forgery allegation is eventually established, we need to also establish whether the young girl is actually the perpetrator or victim.

“The efforts made by JAMB so far cannot completely resolve the issue. This is because as a country, we know there is usually a black market economy running alongside the official one. This is not an argument to exonerate anyone, it is to show that there is a context to how things happen in this country.

“This means the mere confirmation of a crime does not fully answer the question of who committed the crime. So, before declaring the young girl involved as a criminal, JAMB, the Nigerian government, and relevant stakeholders need to do everything possible to establish the fact of this matter.

“This is not to say people of the girl’s age or those even younger than her do not commit such crime but the system must ensure a holistic probe into the issue.”

WHAT NEXT FOR JAMB?

The UTME result saga has further ignited conversations around the efficiency of JAMB.

The board came under fire earlier this year over complaints of technical issues by several candidates who partook in this year’s UTME.

Stakeholders in the education sector, therefore, contend that the board must up its game to meet public expectations.

Culled From TheCable