The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is investigating several accredited Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres alleged to have been involved in large-scale examination malpractice during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Findings showed that some operators of the centres supplied technical details, including Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, to hackers who then gained access to local servers and manipulated the conduct of the examination.
The 2025 UTME, held in May, was marred by technical glitches, leading to mass failure as about 1.5 million of the 1.9 million candidates scored below 200 out of a total of 400 marks. The incident drew public outrage and led to arrests of over 20 suspects by security agencies for hacking CBT centres.
By July, JAMB disclosed at its policy meeting that 19 CBT centres across the country were caught in various malpractice cases, with Anambra and Imo States topping the list. The board later announced that 6,458 candidates were under investigation for technology-enabled cheating.
Some hackers told reporters that operators of compromised centres deliberately released IP addresses to allow mercenaries write exams remotely for candidates. They alleged that candidates would log in at centres but be logged out midway, giving hackers outside the venue time to complete the questions before the candidates re-entered the system to submit.
Education consultants and CBT operators confirmed that some centres profited from the arrangement, describing them as “miracle centres” that guaranteed results for desperate candidates.
But JAMB spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, dismissed claims that the board’s system was vulnerable, insisting that its questions were transmitted through a secured local network, not the internet. He explained that the breaches only occurred at local centre servers in connivance with operators.
The President of the CBT Centre Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Mr. Austin Ohaekelem, also cautioned against labelling all technical glitches as fraud, noting that some genuine errors during registration and biometric capture were misinterpreted as malpractice.
Meanwhile, tutorial operators and education stakeholders urged JAMB to conduct internal reviews and upgrade its technology to block loopholes that fuel malpractice. They stressed that while total eradication may be difficult, tighter checks could reduce the problem significantly.
