Osita Chidoka former Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and former Minister for Aviation wrote: MMESOMA AND JAMB: PROBING THE INTEGRITY OF OUR NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme took her 2023 JAMB at my foundation’s Computer-based testing (CBT) Center at Obosi. I got some calls from worried friends about Mmesoma’s result, which had Thomas Chidoka Center as her examination center. I allayed their worries that the results issue had nothing to do with the examination center.

I observed two significant red flags when i saw her result online. first , our center is no longer addressed ass Thomas Chidoka center for Human Development on JAMB portal since 2021. The correct name on the JAMB portal and main examination slip is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development). Due to the difference in our CAC registration detail, JAMB insisted we change to Nkemefuna Foundation with Thomas Chidoka in a bracket as an identifier. We implemented the name change in 2021. Her result showing Thomas Chidoka without Nkemefuna Foundation, which was on her main Examination slip, raised my suspicion about the genuineness of the result.

The second red flag was the result template. A cursory review of some of those who took the last examination at our center showed a different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB watermark, and no mention of the name of the center. I gave the young Mmesoma the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously not the result template that JAMB used in 2023. I knew it was fake.

Our center has been involved with the JAMB CBT examination since 2016, and i have come to trust the integrity of the JAMB online examination platform. As Corps Marshal in 2011, I used JAMB t conduct the FRSC recruitment exercise that is still adjudged as a high-water mark in public sector recruitment. Those recruited through that process wear their uniform with pride and continues to deliver value to the organization.

For me, the real issue in this saga is the level of distrust of our national institutions. The social media frenzy and denigration of JAMB, together with the ethnic slant of a simple issue with clear and verifiable methods of resolution, is symptomatic of the deep distrust of our national Institutions. This distrust was deepened in the past 8 years with a horrifying descent of issues to our national fault lines. The Ethnicisation of the issue is sad and disappointing.

I doff my hat for JAMB, They came out forcefully and defended their integrity vigorously. They shared the USSD communication between Mmesoma’s phone and their servers with timestamps. Mr.Fabian Benjamin, the JMB spokesperson, did a yeoman’s job in explaining how their system works and the security of their result portal. He even asked anyone who cares to crosscheck with AIRTEL, the network provider of Mmesoam’s phone. Their transparency was compelling and disarming.

The JAMB registrar Professor Oloyede, issued statements based on facts and defended the integrity of a foremost Nigerian Institution whose failure would have had a catastrophic effect on Nigeria’s educational and CBT systems. I was impressed. JAMB”s reaction and responsiveness should be made a minimum benchmark for Government agencies. Our universities should write case studies of this saga so other institutions can learn how to navigate social media and information management in the face of unrelenting attacks.

For Mmesoma, she should come clean and explain how she got that result and who led her down the path. If she does that, i will lend my voice to beg JAMB to note her age and show mercy.

Edited by Kemibijasblog.