FG Moves to Establish Exam Malpractice Court
The Federal Government is taking steps to establish a National Examination Malpractice Court to address growing concerns over cheating and fraud during examinations.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, in Abuja while receiving a report from a committee tasked with improving the quality of examinations across the country.
The committee, chaired by Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), submitted a report that included 12 recommendations, among them the creation of a special tribunal to try exam malpractice cases.
Dr. Alausa said the government would take the recommendations seriously and act on all of them.
“Let me assure all the committee members that you have done so much work here, and all the recommendations you have given us as a government, we will implement every single one of them,” he said.
“All the 12 recommendations that you reeled out, everyone will agree with me today that none of them will be impossible to implement. They are all practicable things. Those that will be implemented now, we will do that right away,” Alausa added.
The committee was inaugurated in January and spent five months compiling its report. It recommended that the Ministry of Education work with the National Assembly to pass a law establishing a court or tribunal focused solely on examination malpractice to allow for quicker prosecution.
It also proposed that examination documents—such as certificates, registration and result slips—should include each candidate’s National Identification Number (NIN), photograph, and date of birth to prevent impersonation.
“All Invigilators and Supervisors must register through NIN and subscribe to the examination body’s Short Code, using the same pattern of 55019/66019 of JAMB in order to track and have full information about the examination officials, including examiners, supervisors and invigilators,” the report stated.
The committee suggested that supervisors and invigilators should be rotated beginning with the 2025 private Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), based on concerns raised by four major examination bodies—WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and NBAIS.
It added that, “Except where absolutely impossible, Invigilators and Supervisors should always be public officials, teachers on pensionable appointments.”
On examination conditions, the committee emphasized that no school should be exempt from standard requirements. It recommended a seating arrangement of either 1.5m by 1.2m or 1.8 square metres per candidate.
The report also called for permanent CCTV surveillance in all exam halls and centres.
“In addition, every examination centre shall have a mini control room where the CCTV camera is monitored for urgent and immediate alert,” the report added.
Other suggestions include the use of body-worn cameras by examination officials and the establishment of shared central control rooms by all exam bodies to reduce costs.
The committee also proposed that pupils generate a unique code linked to their NIN when entering basic school. This code would stay with them throughout their education in Nigeria.
The report questioned the lack of enforcement of the 1999 Examination Malpractice Act, suggesting that the law may either be poorly designed or simply ignored.
It called for an immediate review of the Act to ensure it can be enforced.
It also pushed for the rollout of Computer Based Testing (CBT) for objective questions starting with private exams in 2025 and extending to school-based exams by 2026.
Finally, the committee recommended urgent changes to the system of Continuous Assessment, which contributes 30 per cent to students’ final scores in senior secondary school exams. It described the current practice as vulnerable to manipulation.
“The 30 per cent Continuous Assessment component in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations has become a veritable source of corruption in the examination system due to the fraudulent process of inputting the scores in arrears,” the report stated.
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