Education

Reps probe forgery of Ejikeme’s UTME result

The House of Representatives has set up a committee to investigate the alleged manipulation of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result of a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra State, Mmesoma Ejikeme.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Awaji-Inombek Abiante (PDP-Bayelsa) at plenary in Abuja on Wednesday, July 5.

Ejikeme had claimed to have scored 362 as against 249 which the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recorded as her score in the 2023 UTME.

JAMB said the student used software to manipulate her score to 362 as against 249.

The examination body later withdrew Ejikeme’s original result and banned her from taking the examination for three years.

The student, on Wednesday, July 5, admitted scoring 249 in the examination, adding that she ought not to be blamed for the controversy trailing her UTME result.

However, Abiante said cognisant 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.

The lawmaker said the JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, had earlier alleged that some of the 2023 UTME candidates were parading fake scores in order to get an undue advantage from the public, hence the need to investigate the allegation.

The House, therefore, set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the alleged manipulation of Ejikeme’s UTME result and report back within one week for further legislative action.

The Star