Nigeria: Flashback - Five Times JAMB Caught Candidates Who Falsified Their Utme Results

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5 July 2023
Premium Times (Abuja)
By Qosim Suleiman

There were so many cases of UTME forgery in 2019 that JAMB constituted a panel to probe cases of what many called 'double results'.

The ongoing controversy between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and a candidate, Mmesoma Ejikeme, who sat the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has brought to the fore conversations around cases of falsification of results by UTME candidates.

While JAMB has, over the years, nabbed several candidates who reportedly manipulated their results, none went viral, as in the case of Miss Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS) Nnewi, Anambra State.

Miss Mmesoma's claim of scoring 362 out of 400 obtainable marks had trended on social media for weeks, as she was celebrated by Nigerians globally for purportedly obtaining the highest score in the examination.

Meanwhile, individuals and corporate organisations, including Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, also pledged support and scholarships for Miss Mmesoma to appreciate her "excellent performance".

However, following the decision by the Anambra State Government to confirm the authenticity of Miss Mmesoma's result, JAMB did not only disclaim it but also accused the candidate of possibly belonging to a "high-level syndicate" that had been involved in manufacturing fake results.

Though the state government has set up a panel to investigate the case, the examination body said its investigation had already confirmed that her purported result is fake and that her correct score of 249 has been withdrawn.

JAMB also announced that Miss Mmesoma stands barred from sitting its examination for the next three years.

But while the matter rages, PREMIUM TIMES is aware of other similar cases in the past where candidates accused JAMB of altering their results, but investigations eventually proved otherwise.

Previous cases

In 2019, there were allegations against the examination body by candidates who claimed the results they received through the SMS differed from what was uploaded on JAMB's website.

The development led to the constitution of a panel by JAMB to probe cases of what many called 'double results'. That year, JAMB initially withheld the results of more than 3,000 candidates before later releasing them.

But unlike in 2019, there have also been cases when JAMB accused candidates of falsifying their results, which led to public scrutiny.

  • In 2021, a UTME candidate, Ifesinachi John, 19, claimed he scored 380 in the UTME, but the result checker kept showing 265. Master John and his father, John Ifenkpam, accused JAMB of altering his result. The father, therefore, petitioned the examination body through his lawyer, demanding N1 billion damages and that his son be allowed to retake the test. The candidate claimed that his UTME scores from 2019 till 2021 had been "altered" by JAMB, denying him the opportunity to study his desired course - Medicine, ThisDay reported. It was later found that the candidate saved his sister's phone number with 55019 -the shortcode that automatically sends UTME results to candidates' phone numbers when requested. The candidate later confessed and pleaded for mercy. However, JAMB handed him to the police for investigation.
  • Also in 2019, a UTME candidate, Kingsley Unekwe, 18, confessed to upgrading his UTME score from 201 to 269 during the hearing of a panel set up by JAMB to probe the cases of what many called 'double results'. JAMB had informed the public at the time that many candidates had forged their results and inflated their scores through the activities of scammers but insisted that what they were parading were fake results.
  • In the same year, JAMB arrested a 19-year-old candidate, Adah Eche, for allegedly upgrading his UTME scores from 153 to 290. The candidate was said to have patronised some individuals on social media who claimed to "upgrade candidates' scores." The details of the fraudulent practice were eventually traced to and found on Master Eche's mobile telephone. Meanwhile, after getting his scores inflated, the candidate wrote a letter to JAMB, accusing it of making a mistake in the scores earlier released. Upon investigation, details of the fraudulent transaction were found on the candidate's phone. Other details found on his phone were of him encouraging other candidates who scored below the cut-off marks to upgrade theirs as well in order for them to gain admission.
  • In the same year, JAMB accused another candidate, Cletus Kokowa, of inflating his result from 162 to 206 after paying the sum of N10,000 to a syndicate.
  • Another candidate, Rejoice Mordi, 19, was accused of altering her score from 164 to 264. Miss Mordi told JAMB's panel that she got the fake results from an agent identified as Iyanu Oluwa through WhatsApp.

Beyond UTME

Following reports of forged A-level results, JAMB said it closely monitored the registration process by the candidates for Direct Entry (DE) programme who use A-level results for their applications.

Unlike the UTME taken by first-degree applicants to seek admission into 100 Level in universities, DE candidates hold A-level results from any tertiary institution to allow them to gain admission into 200 Level in universities without sitting the UTME.

JAMB said it has, over the years, found that some DE candidates present fake A-Level results, which are usually only discovered after they must have gained admission into their chosen universities.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Bayero University Kano (BUK), in three years, expelled 178 students who enrolled through DE with alleged fake A-level results.

As part of efforts to clamp down on the users of fake A-level results to apply for the DE programme, JAMB barred private centres from conducting the registration exercise, restricting the registration to the examination body's offices nationwide.

Meanwhile, as part of measures to curb what it described as endemic malpractice, JAMB announced plans to ensure that direct entry candidates also sit UTME as candidates without A-level results do.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

Read the original article on Premium Times.

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