Abia SEMB, EDC Deny Extortion Allegations During School Exams

The Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB), Abia State, and the Examination Development Center (EDC) have dismissed allegations that their monitoring staff storm schools during examinations to extort money from school officials.

The denial follows widespread rumors that monitoring teams from multiple education bodies disrupt private schools during exams, sometimes barging into classrooms and demanding “settlements.”

Speaking in Umuahia, Ucheoma Kanu, Director of the Examination Development Center, insisted no school is required to pay monitoring authorities.

• “Even if ten different teams visit your school, your responsibility as a school is simply to allow them to do their jobs and leave. Nobody is to be given anything,” Kanu said.

She emphasized that the monitoring teams are tasked only with ensuring standards, not financial demands.

The SEMB also denied the allegations, highlighting two key points:

• Its monitoring teams use official vehicles, not tricycles, contrary to claims.

• The board has no supervisory authority over private schools, and therefore does not visit them during examinations.

In a statement by Ngozi Ugo Onwubiko, Director in charge, through D. N. Onuoha, Head of Information and Public Relations, SEMB reiterated:

• “Our mandate is strictly to oversee public secondary schools under the state government. We do not go to private schools, not even during examinations. Any insinuation to the contrary is false and misleading.”

Reports circulating among school officials suggested that:

• As many as four monitoring teams could show up at the same school in one day.

• Some allegedly interrupted exam sessions and pressured administrators for payments.

The official denials from both SEMB and EDC were issued to counter these claims and reassure stakeholders.