• Directs JAMB, WAEC, NECO, others to blacklist culpable centres, candidates
• NDPC investigates data breach in JAMB

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has directed that candidates found guilty of examination malpractice be barred from sitting for any other external examination for three years.

In a directive made available to the media by the spokesperson of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Dr Fabian Benjamin, yesterday, he also instructed the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO) and other exam external bodies to blacklist centres and candidates found guilty of malpractice.

Also, there are indications that the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has initiated an investigation into the alleged data breach at JAMB. According to the statement by the JAMB spokesman, the minister’s directive, which aligns with Section 16(2) of the Examination Malpractices Act, empowers examination bodies to circulate the names of offenders to other bodies, potentially imposing similar punishments.

Alausa also directed the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) to blacklist Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres and candidates found guilty of examination malpractices.

The ban will be enforced using the National Identification Number (NIN) and will apply to examinations conducted by bodies such as JAMB, WAEC, NECO and NABTEB.

The minister’s directive, said to be his response to the mind-boggling sharp practices that trailed the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), was contained in his letter, dated May 27, 2025, to JAMB and other examination bodies.

JAMB, while releasing the 2025 UTME resit results, claimed to have recorded “advanced malpractices”. JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said: “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.”

SOURCES familiar with the JAMB technical glitch disclosed that NDPC opened an investigation into the allegations based on the concerns that confidentiality and integrity of personal data relating to candidates might have been compromised by hackers.

The source added that the investigation would cover a systemic audit of data processing and third-party activities within. JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.

It was gathered that further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). 

This represents a fraction of over 100 notorious hackers who hacked into the digital infrastructures of prominent examination bodies such as JAMB.