The Anambra State government has set up a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing the highest scorer in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, the Commissioner for Education, announced this in a statement in Awka on Monday.

“A panel of inquiry has been set up to work with security agents to investigate the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Mmesoma Ejikeme, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest,” she said.

The commissioner described the controversy on the girl’s actual result as embarrassing, especially when Governor Chukwuma Soludo repositioned the education sector in Anambra.

Ms Ejikeme, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Uruagu in Nnewi, had earlier been celebrated for emerging with the highest score of 362 in the 2023 UTME, a result described by JAMB as fake.

On Sunday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said Miss Ejikeme inflated her actual result from 249 to 362.

Meanwhile, the state government hailed Nkechinyere Umeh, who JAMB declared the highest scorer nationwide with a cumulative mark of 360 in the 2023 UTME.

(NAN)