•Innoson Group vows to unravel what transpired
From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Anambra Government has set up a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had accused Mmesoma Ejikeme of using a software to manipulate her score to 362 as against 249.
Commissioner for Education, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, yesterday, announced the setting up of the panel in a statement in Awka.
She described the controversy on the girl’s actual result as embarrassing, especially coming at a time Governor Chukwuma Soludo was repositioning the education sector in Anambra.
Ejikeme, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Uruagu in Nnewi, had earlier been celebrated for emerging with the highest score of 362 in the 2023 UTME, a result described by JAMB as fake.
JAMB said in a statement on Sunday that Ejikeme inflated her actual result from 249 to 362.
Meanwhile, the management of Innoson Automobile Company, has said the N3 million scholarship awarded to Ejikeme would stand if found to be innocent of the allegation by JAMB of result manipulation.
This is as it Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Innocent Chukwuma, declared his readiness to investigate the claim by JAMB the result was fake.
He said the investigation team would as well find out Ejikeme’s performance in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and National Examination Council results.
He said the investigation would extend to the Ministry of Education, adding that it should be thorough to unravel what transpired.
“We will do a full investigation to unravel what happened. If she is shortchanged, we will expose whoever that is involved.
“To say she will be prosecuted is not the issue. If they want to prosecute her, they should bring the evidence of what she did for everybody to see. You can’t prosecute someone without proving what the person did.
“When I was told that a student of a public school recorded the highest score in the JAMB examination, I sent for the principal of the school and the principal confirmed to me that it was true that the girl scored the mark.
“I said to myself that such a brilliant girl if properly educated will be beneficial to our country and the world at large, so I decided to award her scholarship so that nothing will stop her from attaining a university education.
“When I awarded her the scholarship, I deposited N3 million in a dedicated bank account and told the principal that the money is strictly meant for Ejikeme’s education in the university; that any time she needs to pay any fee in the school, they will let me know so that I will sign for withdrawal of money from the account. I made the arrangement so that nobody, including the girl’s parents can divert the money to another thing.”
Chukwuma said the investigation team would find out if it was somebody else that manipulated Ejikeme’s result for her without her consent or that she deliberately faked the result to deceive people that she was a brilliant student.
“If I find out that she deliberately faked her result, I will cancel the scholarship because I won’t encourage crime. So, I will make inquiry to find out what actually happened.
“I didn’t know the girl before. I heard that she hails from Enugu State but studied in a public school in Anambra State, so my interest is to make sure I support her to realise her potential in education and be useful to our nation, that is all. And to encourage other younger ones to be serious with their academic pursuit,” he said.
He advised Ejikeme not to panic during this period of investigation, saying they have the capacity to carry out proper investigation to unravel the truth.
He further stressed that if they find out that she is innocent of the allegation, whether she scored the highest or not, the scholarship will still stand.