Mum hires crook to write son's JAMB exam but now regrets it

The suspect, Mrs. Chika Okoye, confessed to employing her son's friend, Dan Abah, to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on behalf of her son, Samuel.

Punch News gathered that the impersonator was apprehended at Command Secondary School, Lafia, where he sat for the test.

Okoye who asked to be pardoned blamed her action on her son's inability to gain entrance into a tertiary institution having tried for a long period of time.

“We couldn’t get admission for many years so I became frustrated; he was also frustrated and nobody is helping us.

“I have other children who have graduated but for the past four years or more now, he (Samuel) has failed to pass the exams, so I became frustrated.”

“So, I asked his friend to help him to write the exams, I told him I will give him something but I know it is a very bad thing. Please, forgive me sir, I was so frustrated,” says the mother.

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Is examination malpractice a reason for corruption in Nigeria?

Nigeria has dealt with a share of problems relating to examination malpractice which is closely linked with corruption according to Prof Ike Onyechere, the Founding Chairman, Exam Ethics Marshal International.

The academician who spoke at the 20th anniversary ceremony of the organisation in Calabar, Cross River State, in the year 2017, blamed poor quality in education on dishonesty while has created room for the menace to blossom.

“Education is the source code and character of a nation, when the source code (fundamental) is corrupt, everything that comes from it will surely be corrupt.

“We want to create a platform that can produce citizens, workforce and leaders with credible characters as well as the capacity to shun corruption and have the competence to deliver.

“Anyone could fall victim of a product of exam malpractices at any given time, it could be a quack doctor, nurse or even an accountant who sorted his or her way out during school.

"Education is seriously being challenged my examination malpractice and academic dishonesty," says Onyechere in a report compiled by Vanguard News.

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His submission aptly describes the alarming state of education in Nigeria, where competence in the teaching profession is not so sufficient - a factor that encouraged the government in Kaduna to conduct a widespread dismissal of its incompetent academic staff.