Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has directed major examination bodies in Nigeria to impose severe sanctions on schools, Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres, and students involved in examination malpractice, following widespread fraud in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In a letter dated May 27, 2025, Alausa instructed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO), and the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) to immediately blacklist guilty candidates and centres.
He stated, “If any school/CBT centre is derecognised by any examination body, other sister examination bodies should follow suit and derecognise the same school/CBT centre for the same number of years to run concurrently. This will send a very strong signal to operators of these miracle centres.”
The minister also called for tougher penalties on candidates, saying, “The student(s) involved in examination malpractice should be barred from sitting for any external examinations in Nigeria, such as those conducted by WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, etc, for three years, using the instrumentality of NIN. Such a stringent measure will serve as a deterrent to other students and parents.”
Alausa justified the directive with Section 16(2) of the Examination Malpractices Act, which empowers examination bodies to share the names of offenders with sister agencies for similar sanctions.
The move follows JAMB’s revelation of what it described as “advanced malpractices” in the 2025 UTME. According to JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, digital fraud schemes have placed the country’s educational integrity at risk.
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“While some Nigerians are busy dissipating energies on conspiracy theories and the spread of hatred, the future of Nigeria is being put in jeopardy by an advanced level digitised fraud,” Oloyede said.
He further revealed that “further high-level malpractices were uncovered, which led to the withdrawal of some results and the arrest of several culprits across the country, some of whom have made useful confessions.”
The JAMB boss listed several fraud techniques, including hacking of CBT centre networks, remote submission of answers, impersonation using AI photo-blending, and the use of combined fingerprints for registration.
“There were also cases of extension of Local Area Networks, LAN, from centres to remote ‘strong rooms’; pairing of candidates with professional mercenaries after wilful disruption of sitting arrangements who had registered for the UTME for the purpose of access to the examination hall,” he added.
“Unfortunately, many undergraduates of tertiary institutions are found to be involved in this nefarious practice.”
Oloyede disclosed that over 3,000 candidates had already been identified as accomplices or beneficiaries of the scheme.
“But as investigation progresses, all candidates implicated in these unwholesome activities will have their results withdrawn as soon as incontrovertible proofs are established, even if the results have been released,” he said.