Abia Education Agencies Deny Extorting Private Schools During Exams
Story: written by Peterson September 15,2025
Umuahia, Abia State – The Examination Development Centre (EDC) and the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) have dismissed allegations that their monitoring teams invade private schools during examinations to extort money from school authorities.
Reacting to the claims, Ucheoma Kanu, Director of the Examination Development Centre, clarified that no school is mandated to pay any form of fee to monitoring officers.
“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.
In the same vein, SEMB denied any involvement in monitoring private schools. In a statement signed by its Head of Information and Public Relations, D. N. Onuoha, on behalf of Director Ngozi Ugo Onwubiko, the board emphasized that its mandate is limited to public schools.
“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,” the statement read.
The agencies also refuted claims that their monitoring teams operate with tricycles, stressing that official teams use designated vehicles for supervision.
The clarification follows reports alleging that multiple monitoring groups from the Ministry of Education, local government education authorities, SEMB, and other bodies had invaded private schools during exams, sometimes demanding “settlements” and even entering examination halls.
Both agencies urged the public to disregard such allegations, describing them as false and damaging to the integrity of Abia State’s education sector.
