There have been allegations of widespread malpractice during the most recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME against certain operators of computer-based test CBT centres approved by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.
According to investigations, the operators gave tech-savvy people technical information, and those people subsequently broke into servers and changed how the test was conducted.
Technical issues that JAMB encountered in May caused the 2025 UTME to be a huge failure, with 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates who took the test receiving scores below 200 out of 400.
Outrage erupted when Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the JAMB Registrar, broke down in tears on May 14 after acknowledging that some applicants’ scores had been impacted by technical mistakes.
For hacking various CBT centres, agents from the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services in Abuja detained no fewer than 20 individuals.
After this, in June, JAMB voiced concerns about candidates who were utilising artificial intelligence to pose as someone else and make up an albinism claim in order to cheat.
According to statistics given at the board’s 2025 policy meeting in July, CBT centres in the states of Imo and Anambra were the most frequently found to be involved in finger-pairing procedures.
In total, 19 centres were made public across the country: six in Anambra, four in Imo, one each in Abia and Edo, two in Kano, and one each in Ebonyi, Delta, Kaduna, Rivers, and Enugu.
JAMB revealed in August that 6,458 applicants for admission were being investigated for engaging in technology-enabled exam fraud during the 2025 UTME.
A 23-member Special Committee on Examination Infraction was established by the board to look into the instances and provide a report in 21 days.
It was discovered that the “miracle centres'” operators, who typically assured desperate applicants of victory, were partly to blame for the exam’s technical issues.
A hacker with ten years of experience, who only goes by Ahmed, spoke about how CBT servers were compromised and claimed that because some of the centre operators were actively involved in the process, there was little JAMB could do to stop exam fraud.
Ahmed revealed that while some students were given tests by mercenary, centre operators gave hackers access to the Internet Protocol address so they could access servers covertly.
The term “mercenaries” refers to those who unlawfully administer tests to applicants.
Every device linked to a computer network that communicates over the Internet Protocol is given a unique set of digits known as an IP address.
“Some centres make their IPs available to hackers,” he stated. They can use this to go in and access the candidates’ login information and questions. They are unable to keep an eye on every IP address in Nigeria.
“Hired mercenaries stay outside with remote access to the centres’ servers to write the exams on candidates’ behalf while they are physically present at CBT centres.”
He claimed that in order to allow mercenaries outside to take control, applicants who first registered in at centres would be purposefully logged out.
The candidates would have been told to keep quiet if their systems were logged out, Ahmed continued.
“We ask the candidates to time themselves for 20 or 25 minutes while the mercenaries answer the questions, and then they complain that their systems logged them out,” he said. We already have access to their portals during this time, and we are assisting them in using mercenaries to try the questions.
“We had finished responding to their enquiries by the time they alert the examiners at the centres. They will notice that every question has been addressed when they check in once more. They just have to select “Submit,” and that’s all.
They are powerless to stop this misconduct since someone will always figure out how to get inside the server. Our applicants already pass their examinations once we get access to the server because we will complete them remotely.
“The owners of the centres know that their servers are compromised but they wouldn’t do anything about it because they are profiting from the fraudulent activities. The mercenaries are paying them huge amounts of money,” said a Lagos-based CBT operator who was also involved in the business, revealing that the centres were typically aware that their servers had been compromised but would not act.
Additionally, these centres have JAMB contact individuals who serve as their backbone. It is untrue to say that JAMB’s technology prevents misconduct. Many students continue to need assistance in passing their exams. These individuals utilise mercenaries to write the examinations and the backdoor of a certain center’s server to do their work efficiently.
“JAMB can’t even recognise their faces or anything else.” Some of these individuals hack into the center’s database directly rather than using insiders.
However, JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin stated that it was impossible to hack the board’s website because it did not have any questions on it.
Our systems are linked locally. It is not Internet-enabled, but rather via a Local Area Network. Therefore, it is invisible everywhere. Our website has never contained a query. The test cannot be taken online,” he continued.
He explained that some people claimed to have hacked the local server of certain facilities while working with the owners of those establishments.
“Our questions are like a text message in speed and delivery, so there is no way that anyone will see them,” Fabian stated. Like a text message, we send our questions to the centres using a model. The biometric of the candidate provides access to the questions.
While praising the JAMB registrar for curbing exam misconduct, Austin Ohaekelem, the National President of the Computer Based Test Centre Proprietors Association of Nigeria, added that not all CBT facilities were complicit in exam fraud.
He saw that some legitimate exam errors were being mistakenly classified as fraudulent.
“Somehow, there are still some issues along the queue, either at the exam registration point or during the exam that happened accidentally,” Ohaekelem said. It is currently believed to be a fake and a purposeful attempt to undermine the test.
The national president voiced concern about the blacklisting of innocent centres due to JAMB’s technological challenges while explaining the circumstances.
“The network went out at a centre in Anambra State that was registering a candidate, but the candidate’s picture was captured,” he claimed. The network failed to submit due to an issue.
“When the next applicant arrived to register, the person who had previously registered the first one began enrolling the new one without realising that the original candidate’s information was still there. The first person’s details were based on the second person’s photograph. It wasn’t intentional. When they intended to print a notification slip at the end of registration, they learnt about it.
Other problems include biometric capture, where each candidate arrives and tries repeatedly to get the scanner to pick it up, which usually makes them nervous. When someone intends to undermine or compromise the examination, that should be the target of what is known as fraud.
Ogundokun Olufunso, the secretary of the Association of Tutorial School Operators in Oyo State, commented on the issue and expressed concern about the desperate methods used by applicants to evade the system during tests.
Some students, in desperation, conspire with tech engineers to manipulate biometrics, while others were victims of uncontrollable mistakes, according to Olufunso. ‘Sometimes, some students, out of desperation, connive with tech engineers.
Sometimes, they do biometric manipulation. Other students fall victim without doing anything because when their biometric is not accepted, they will assume such a candidate is among those being investigated, and they will not let them sit for the examination’.
Regarding “miracle centres,” he said that due to the dangers involved, the majority of tutorial centres in the state had turned away from them.
“I can tell you with certainty that the majority of tutorial centres are no longer involved in such activities because they are dangerous and we advise against them,” he said. How much will a student offer you to jeopardise your profession and future while also running the chance of going to jail? These students will carry on with their lives even if you are imprisoned. As a result, all tutorial centres now believe that it is superior.
However, in order to prevent manipulation, he encouraged JAMB to conduct internal assessments and make sure that any vulnerabilities in its system were closed.
Similarly, the Director of Toppers Coaching Centre, Ogun State, Emehinola Omodara, requested JAMB to re-examine its methodology and address gaps that could encourage exam fraud.
Omodara stated, “You can’t come up with allegations without evidence. It is time for JAMB to start over and reevaluate their system. They are making an effort, but all of these shortcomings need to be fixed in order to win the public’s vote of confidence.
“If they put their things in order, miracle centres will not exist. They should not be shifting blame, but look internally at their staff members and how the leakages are happening.”
Taiwo Folorunsho, the founder of Campusinfo Consult Limited, also spoke and stressed the necessity of a thorough modernisation of the JAMB’s technology in order to successfully prevent misconduct and rectify its operational flaws.
