“We think JAMB’s decision is hasty.The board should have carried out more due diligence, more discreet investigation before coming up with the ban,” were the words with which the National Association of Parent- Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) upbraided the decision by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), to bar Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma from sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME)for the next three years.
Adeolu Ogunbanjo, National Deputy Chairman of NAPTAN, while stating the position of the body, against the backdrop of the stiff measures it announced earlier, told reporters in Lagos on Tuesday that JAMB’s decision was hasty, as the body did not carry out due diligence before taking the step.
Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesman, had announced that the student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Nnewi, would apart from the withdrawal of he true result in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), would not be allowed to take the examination for the next three years as punishment for forging her result slip.
“We are not particularly at home with JAMB’s approach on this whole issue, although it is an unfortunate development,” Ogunbanjo, said adding that the body did not also do well for inviting the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest the student even when investigation had not been concluded.
Urging that the matter be handled carefully as it could be a case of hacking, he said: “UTME is a technology- driven exercise so there could be hacking just like any other technology could as well be hacked,” adding however that the development was an eye opener with some positive lessons.
“Students or people who may have been doing this in the past or planning to have their way through this dubious means, should have a rethink because this issue has served as an eye opener,” he said.
Whirlwind
