Adeyinka Adeniji 
Amid the call for the scrapping of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), another major stakeholder in the education sector has passed a vote of confidence on the body’s leadership as led by the registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Friday applauded the higher education matriculation examination body for raising and ensuring the preservation of its integrity amid a fake result saga involving Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State.
In a statement signed by its Vice President (Ext Aff), Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, NANS declared that Prof Oloyede’s leadership has brought about the restoration of the glory of the body, noting that fraudulent elements had in the past escaped with the perpetration of all manners of forgery of JAMB documents.
“But under the leadership of the current Registrar led by Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, sanity has been restored to the system.
“The examination process has been transparent and credible without fault, and we do commend Prof. Is-haq Oloyede for the timely reform and for holding firm to the integrity of the board.”
While lamenting the ridicule of dragging the reputation of a body like JAMB in the mud through Mmesoma’s controversial claim of scoring the highest score in the last JAMB examination, the student body while affirming the right of JAMB to sanction any erring examination candidate, also pleaded with the Oloyede-led board to consider a lenient review of the punishment pronounced on Miss Mmesoma.
Recall that JAMB had pronounced a 3-year University admission ban on the 19-year-old Ejikeme after she was found to have forged her result for the 2023 examinations.
“It is not only worrisome but also disheartening that a reputable body like JAMB with the priority to enhance academic excellence has found itself in this disreputable ordeal.
Hence, the stance of the board to punish the orchestrator is understandable – the priority and the sole objective of the board must be protected and defended”, posited the body.
“The office of the National Association of Nigerian Students [NANS] Vice-president External Affairs, craves the indulgence of the board and its leadership to temper justice with mercy regardless of how bad the recent saga orchestrated by Ms. Ejikeme might have caused and cost the board.
“Taking her out however would destroy her and her brilliance is an asset that should not be put to loss.
According to Akinteye, Nmmesoma had learned her lessons and should not be the end “opportunity to pursue her dreams and a chance to right the wrong.
“She is young and naive, her desperation to become the best consumed her, and as such we plead to your magnanimous leadership to review the judgment of banning her from taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination [UTME] and exempting her from gaining admission to any institution of her choice.
The body also advised its members to shun all manners of malpractices, even as it urged JAMB to always ensure that perpetrators of examination infractions be brought to book.
