The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Monday celebrated a staff member, Gbenga Adebayo, for his bravery in conveying ransom to kidnappers.
The board also celebrated Moduoluwa Aloba, a staff member based in Lagos, for her dedication to the service of the board and a team of three others –Muzammil Bello, Dubem Ikechukwu and Auwal Bello– for their innovation in tackling examination malpractice by fraudsters.
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JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, a professor, called out five staff members to the podium on Monday during the board’s annual policy meeting on admissions with heads of tertiary institutions across the country.
Each of the commended staff members also received a handshake from the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, who chaired the event.
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Those who helped detect fraud
Mr Oloyede said the resourcefulness of Messrs Bello, Ikechukwu and Bello helped the board apprehend several individuals involved in UTME fraud.
“When people were doing all this 419 that they were doing (in UTME), and we were looking for how to solve it, at the peak of the examination. You know, we had a bitter experience last year that shook us, and our integrity was called into question, and ” We said this will not happen again,” he narrated.
Mr Oloyede said the least charged by those who could help the board with the fraud detection was N140 million, which was above his approval limit and would require him to write to the education ministry and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
But the team of three staff members displayed innovation, completed the task, and helped the board arrest the syndicates, who are currently in jail.
He said the board has recommended compensation for them, but it has yet to be approved by the education ministry.
For Mrs Aloba, who works at the board’s Lagos office, Mr Oloyede said the board still had an office in the megacity because of her.
“I won’t tell you that story, but I would just say, when men were running away, she stood. And that is why we now have the property that we have in Ogba,” he said.
The JAMB registrar also proposed that the centre be named after her once completed. The approval is dependent on the education ministry, he said.
The man who delivered the ransom
Mr Oloyede also explained that when some board staff members were kidnapped, and the kidnappers were requesting ransom, no one was willing to deliver the ransom except Mr Adebayo, a senior driver at the board.
The JAMB Registrar didn’t say when or where the kidnapping happened. He also didn’t disclose how much the kidnappers requested, nor the amount of ransom paid.
“When something happened in JAMB, honourable minister, we were terrified. We didn’t know what to do….Some people were kidnapped, and we started negotiating with the kidnappers, and they said they wanted some money. But the issue is who will take it there,” the JAMB registrar narrated.
“The husbands and the wives of those who will take it there refused to go. It was this man who offered that ‘I will go’. And he went. But I almost died that night. Because when he got to the place, while I was monitoring with technology and the rest, we just started (hearing) ‘fire, fire,’ ‘my head, my head’.
“I had to call the governor of Kogi State, the commissioner of police, and the Nigerian army to say that my driver is lost in the place, and eventually, thank God, Mr Gbenga returned safely.
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“They damage the whole car with guns and everything. The money that he took there, only half of it was gotten. Eventually, he got those staff members released. So, we believe we should recognise Mr Gbenga (Adebayo) for that bravery.”
The Nigerian government has always maintained that it doesn’t pay ransom to bandits or terrorists, always maintaining that it rescued kidnap victims unhurt without paying the kidnappers.
But Mr Oloyede’s narration confirmed that a government agency had at least attempted to pay kidnappers before.
