Some operators of Computer-Based Test centres accredited by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board have been alleged to be involved in large-scale malpractices during the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH showed that the operators supplied technical information to tech-savvy individuals, who then hacked into servers and manipulated the conduct of the examination.
JAMB had in May experienced technical glitches that marred the 2025 UTME, resulting in mass failure as 1.5 million out of the 1.9 million candidates who sat the exam scored below 200 out of the total 400 marks.
The development generated outrage as the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, broke down in tears on May 14 while admitting that technical errors had affected some candidates’ scores.
No fewer than 20 suspects were arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja for hacking some CBT centres.
Following this, in June, JAMB raised the alarm over candidates using Artificial Intelligence to impersonate others and falsely claim albinism as a means of cheating.
By July, data presented at the board’s 2025 policy meeting revealed that CBT centres in Imo and Anambra states topped the list of places caught engaging in finger-pairing malpractices.
Overall, 19 centres were exposed nationwide: Anambra accounted for six, Imo had four, Abia and Edo recorded one each, Kano had two, while Ebonyi, Delta, Kaduna, Rivers, and Enugu recorded one centre apiece.
In August, JAMB announced that 6,458 admission seekers were under investigation for involvement in technology-enabled examination malpractice during the 2025 UTME.
The board inaugurated a 23-member Special Committee on Examination Infraction to investigate the cases and submit its report within 21 days.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that operators of the “miracle centres,” who usually guaranteed success to desperate candidates, contributed to the technical glitches of the exam.
Speaking on how CBT servers were breached, a hacker who identified himself only as Ahmed and has been in the business for 10 years, said there was little JAMB could do to curb exam malpractice because some of the centre operators were actively involved in the process.
Ahmed disclosed that centre operators released the Internet Protocol address to hackers to log into servers undetected, while mercenaries would write exams for some candidates.
Mercenaries are regarded as persons who illegally take exams for candidates.
An IP address is a unique set of numbers assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.
He said, “There are some centres that make their IPs available to hackers. With this, they are able to penetrate and gain access to questions and login details of candidates. There is no way they can monitor all the IP addresses in Nigeria.
“While candidates are physically present at CBT centres, hired mercenaries remain outside with remote access to the centres’ servers to write the exams on their behalf.”
He said candidates who initially logged in at centres would be deliberately logged out to enable mercenaries outside to take over.
Ahmed added that the candidates would have been instructed to remain silent whenever their systems were logged out.
He said, “While the questions are being answered by the mercenaries, we ask the candidates to time themselves for 20 or 25 minutes, then complain that their systems logged them out. During this period, we already have access to their portals and are helping them attempt the questions with mercenaries.
“By the time they notify the examiners at the centres, we are already done answering the questions for them. When they are logged in again, they will see that all the questions have been answered. They only need to click on ‘Submit,’ and that is the end.
Credit: Punchng
