The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has called for a fresh and more radical approach to tackling exam malpractices in Nigeria.
According to JAMB, there is an urgent need to checkmate digital examination fraud in the country.
The call was made by JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, as revealed in the board’s bulletin on Monday.
Speaking against the background of the 2025 examinations and the issues that have surrounded it, Oloyede said the current trend of digital examination fraud is worrisome and sophisticated, with the potential to jeopardize the future of education.
He warned that malpractice is adversely affecting learning, research work, and national development in Nigeria and called for urgent action to curb it.
The registrar said there is a need for urgent action on these new and worrisome discoveries and urged the public not to treat the issue with levity.
He also accused some people of dissipating their energies on spreading unhelpful conspiracy theories and hatred, instead of joining hands with stakeholders to check the new crop of sophisticated digital fraudsters.
“During the 2025 examinations, further high-level malpractices were uncovered, which led to the withdrawal of some results and the arrest of several culprits across the country,” he said.
The JAMB Registrar alleged that certain CBT centres and school proprietors conspired to hack the networks of targeted CBT centres.
He said these hackers gain control of candidates’ computers and remotely submit their responses to the relevant local servers of the compromised centres.
He also listed the AI-enabled photo blending of candidates with those of their impersonators, many of whom are current undergraduate students as part of the high-tech digital fraud uncovered during the 2025 examinations.
Oloyede said other discoveries include registration with combined fingerprints through the combination of fingerprints from multiple persons for a single candidate’s registration.
He cited the extension of local area networks from some dubious centres to remote “strong rooms” as well as the pairing of candidates with professional mercenaries to gain access to the examination hall.
The JAMB registrar, while lamenting that many undergraduates were found to be involved in this practice, disclosed that over 3000 candidates have been identified as either accomplices or beneficiaries.