Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has ordered a probe into the controversy trailing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) result of a pupil from the state.
Daily Trust had reported how the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exposed a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State,a pupil, Ejikeme Mmesoma, who reportedly inflated her result and announced herself as the top scorer for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Innocent Chukwuma, Founder of Innoson Motors, had awarded her a N3 million scholarship for her “exploit”.
Mmesoma had announced that she scored 362 in this year’s UTME, declaring herself as the overall best candidate in the country.
The Anambra government was also planning to honour her for allegedly emerging as the top scorer.
But in a statement on Sunday Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesperson, revealed that the student actually scored 249 in the exam
Benjamin said her result would be withdrawn while the pupil would face prosecution.
In a statement on Monday, Anambra State, Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, said the State government had instituted a panel of inquiry to probe the controversy.
“A panel of inquiry has been set up to work with security agents to investigate the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Mmesoma Ejikeme, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest.”
The commissioner described the controversy on the girl’s result as embarrassing, “especially coming at a time Governor Chukwuma Soludo is repositioning the education sector in Anambra State.”
She however hailed Nkechinyere Umeh who was declared by JAMB as the highest scorer nationwide with a cumulative mark of 360 in the 2023 UTME.