Syndicates mislead and provide fictitious results to needy applicants for admission.

DEBORAH TOLU-KOLAWOLE was approached by a syndicate of the UTME and West African Senior School Certificate Examination result manipulators who extort desperate candidates for “result upgrade” after posing as a candidate in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Facebook.

In Nigeria, receiving a score on the West African Senior School Certificate Examination or the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination that is deemed low could mean that one’s academic aspirations are over.

This is a result of the desperate attempts to gain admission to universities and other postsecondary educational establishments where desired fields of study like engineering, law, medicine, and so forth are offered.

An 18-year-old student going by the name Loveth is said to have killed herself in 2018 after failing to make the cutoff point in the UTME. It was reported that Loveth’s score of 163 caused her to commit herself.

Even though the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board hasn’t been imposing cut-off marks on colleges for some time, candidates, instructors, and even parents are still on edge due to their desperation to beat the cut-off marks for desired courses like law and medicine.

At its June 24, 2023, 2023 policy meeting, JAMB revealed that 452,443 candidates in the 2023 UTME expressed interest in the 78,578 admission quotas for medicine. Because there are many applicants vying for a few number of spots, admission lists will be pared down to only include the best applicants.

In order to be eligible, a candidate must meet specific requirements, which could include, but are not limited to, having a favorable UTME score (based on the institution of choice’s cut-off mark), favorable WASSCE grades, and a favorable post-UTME score, among other things.

A number of strategies for circumventing the system through different types of exam malpractices have been developed by candidates, teachers, schools, parents, and guardians in an attempt to get favorable marks for admittance or, in certain situations, recognition.

It has been reported that certain schools and private citizens set up “special or miracle centers,” where test takers receive their answers to questions with little to no intervention from outside supervisors.

The West African Examination Council accused a few supervisors who remain anonymous in June 2023 of profiting billions of naira through exam cheating.

There have been reports that impersonators in the UTME have registered on behalf of candidates with the intention of writing the exams on their behalf.

In February 2023, the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said that 817 candidates’ UTME registrations had been canceled by the board due to impersonation.

With the implementation of a new verification mechanism, the board has been able to reduce the amount of impersonators who write UTME on behalf of others; nonetheless, the board is presently dealing with an additional aspect of the issue.

A particular Ejikeme Mmesoma, who presented herself as the 2023 UTME top scorer, was revealed by the board on July 2, 2023. Ejikeme had submitted a fictitious UTME score of 362 points.

She supported her statements with a result slip and even a “text message” from JAMB. But when the Anambra State Government chose to investigate her board allegations, she was exposed.

A particular Atung Gerald, who claimed to have received a score of 380 in the 2023 UTME, was also revealed by the board. Atung’s relatives demanded national recognition from JAMB after learning of his whereabouts, however the JAMB web later disclosed that Atung had not registered for the 2023 UTME.

But this is not the first time the board has encountered a circumstance of this nature. John Ifenkpam, a 19-year-old UTME candidate, improved his score from 278 to 328 in 2021. Ifenkpam was unable to alter his score on the JAMB portal, despite having a “text message” to support his assertions.

When he discovered his true score on the portal, he informed his father that JAMB had tampered with his results. His father sued JAMB for N1 billion after that. After multiple inquiries, the applicant disclosed that he had falsified his UTME outcome.

In a similar vein, Adah Eche, also 19, was detained in 2019 after altering his UTME results. Eche obtained a score of 153 in the 2019 UTME, however JAMB claims that he worked with an exam syndicate to get his score increased to 290.

Oloyede clarified that the suspect was captured after a Public Complaints Commission delegation visited the board in response to several complaints from disgruntled applicants who took the 2019 UTME.

Oloyede went on to say that the evidence from the suspect’s phone and computer, where he had first feigned a 200 score before increasing it to 290, led to his confession.

Our correspondent launched an inquiry into how UTME applicants fabricate results, related printouts, and “JAMB text messages” to support their claims after JAMB exposed Ejikeme and Atung.

After conducting research, our reporter discovered that the majority of “UTME and WASSCE result upgraders” obtain customers via well-known social media sites like Facebook. A list of UTME result vendors appeared when the term “JAMB upgrade” was simply placed into Facebook’s search bar.

Our correspondent saw that some of these “upgraders” of results posted testimony of improved results and WhatsApp connections where they could be reached, but they did not submit their own names on Facebook.

In order to learn how the syndicates improved results and the procedures they used—including the fees for the service—our correspondent started following the syndicates.

On Facebook, the correspondent engaged with other syndicate members while assuming the persona of a frantic applicant hoping to get accepted into the university with an improved JAMB score.

She told them that although she received 150 in the 2023 UTME, she needed to apply into medicine with an enhanced score of 249.

The writer feigned to be the mother of a UTME applicant whose daughter had received a score of 160 but need an upgrade to 300 in order to communicate with someone else.

A total of three syndicate members were involved in the UTME upgrade and one member in the WASSCE result upgrade. One of them went by the Facebook moniker “Channels Television,” but her real name was Blessing Oiza Samuel, according to the account number he gave for payment.

On June 12, she posted something on Facebook that said, “JAMB UPGRADE! JAMB VERSION! JAMB VERSION! To improve your JAMS scores to 200, 230, 250, 270, 290, or 350, please contact us at {08144978250} right now. My WhatsApp number is this. Upgrading is still ongoing at this time. In a day, I may enhance your JAMB results.

As instructed, our correspondent used WhatsApp to get in touch with the number and pretended to be the mother of a UTME applicant who had received a 160 but need an upgrade to a 300 in order to be in.