The 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was littered with several incidents of malpractice, including that of a woman who offered to pay an examiner in kind if he agreed to help her daughter cheat.

According to Reuben Abati, former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, this was revealed during the post-UTME review meeting chaired by Ishaq Oloyede, Jamb registrar.

The meeting was attended by members of JAMB’s technical team, field officers, all the chief external examiners who supervised the 2017 UTME and members of the civil society.

He narrated an incident that occurred at one of the exam centres, as relayed in the meeting by a chief examiner.

“In one centre, a mother was said to have approached the chief examiner to ask him to assist her daughter to pass the examination,” Abati said in an opinion published on his website.

“The chief examiner reportedly told her to leave the examination venue, but she insisted that if the chief examiner was ready to help, as requested, she was prepared to pay in kind.

“The alarmed professor and examiner told her it was not part of his function to do what she wanted. The UTME, he said, is a merit-based examination.

“The woman, not giving up, asked for the hotel where the professor was staying. She offered to join him in the hotel later in the day!

“In another state, an invigilator lured a young lady to the control room with the promise that if she would co-operate with him, he would help her to pass the UTME. Other invigilators caught the two of them and promptly reported the matter. When the young lady’s mother was informed about what had happened, her response was most unusual.

“She was not willing to press charges, or talk about the scandal. She was in fact not bothered at all. She would rather talk about something else.

“What did she want? She wanted JAMB to compensate her daughter with additional 10 marks or more, to make up for the sexual harassment. We were all alarmed. Strange things really happen.”

He continued: “We were informed that a total of 1,386 candidates, all properly identified and documented, were guilty of the following offences: impersonation, possession of prepared answer scripts, smuggling of foreign materials into the examination venue, possession of electronic gadgets including telephone, copying and spying from foreign materials, unruly behaviour, violent conduct, collusion, multiple registration and examinations.

“We were all shocked when Oloyede asked his staff to present to the meeting, concrete evidence of examination malpractice.

“We were shown shirts, with presumed answers written out in the inner lining, slippers, belts, handkerchiefs, and all kinds of strange devices that candidates across the country smuggled into examination centres.”