Thursday 17 May 2012

EFCC to battle JAMB exam malpractice


(Daily Independent)
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approached the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for assistance in curbing malpractice in the conduct of public examinations in Nigeria.
JAMB Registrar and Chief Executive, Dibu Ojerinde, on Wednesday made this appeal when he paid the EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, a courtesy visit in his office.
A statement from the anti-graft agency said Ojerinde noted that the most challenging issue confronting JAMB is the issue of examination malpractice.
He explained that although the mandate of JAMB is to conduct credible and valid examinations free of malpractice, the rising spate of sharp practices among students has become a cause for concern.



The statement added that JAMB boss disclosed that in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), two individuals, who designed footwear that accommodated handsets to receive answers from outside, were arrested.
“There is this particular case of a woman in Ikirun, Osun State, who during a search before the examination, the scanner gave indication that there were foreign metal object in her body.
“All entreaties to her to bring out what was on her failed until a woman supervisor had to take her to a closet and undress her only to discover that a handset was hidden in her underwear.
“If we had not used the scanner, we couldn’t have detected it. Even at that, I am sure there were people who still went away with it”, Ojerinde lamented.
Ojerinde further disclosed the plan to introduce e-testing to replace the manual examination, saying the idea will be introduced gradually as candidates will be allowed the option of paper/pencil examinations or e-testing.

In his response, Lamorde described education as important to any nation and lamented a situation where some parents and teachers encourage students to engage in examination malpractices.

“It shows the level at which the value system has deteriorated”, he declared.

Lamorde assured JAMB of EFCC’s collaboration, saying the commission will always be available to handle any issue referred to it.

“We would always intervene not only during examinations, we would also like to beam our searchlight on personnel of JAMB to know how the questions get to the candidates”, he said.

The EFCC boss said efforts should be made to de-emphasise paper qualification in Nigeria.

“Even in the western world, there are people who have done wonderfully well without having a university or a polytechnic degree. These people have contributed meaningfully to the society”, he added.

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