Education

See how we breach CBT centres’ servers for candidates – Hackers

Published

1 year ago

August 23, 2025

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 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.

It was 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.

“The only thing we use to run this is just to get the IP address and insert some codes, which are simply numeric. After that, we input the digits, and that is all. This enables us to have access to anything related to the JAMB server.”

An education consultant, who runs a coaching centre at Badagry, Lagos, corroborated Ahmed’s claim, saying many of the centres had compromised operators, who enabled exam malpractices.

The consultant confirmed that hackers breach servers of identified CBT centres by compromising the IP address supplied by the operators.

He said, “This would be impossible without an insider from the centres. Without an insider, there is no way we could get the IP address to get it done. These are the backdoors to this activity. These people are being paid millions of naira. The parents of these candidates have already paid everything to the centres.

“There is nothing they can do to curb this malpractice; there will always be an insider who will show how to penetrate the server. Once we gain access to the server, our candidates already pass their exams because we will do it for them remotely.”

A CBT operator based in Lagos who was also involved in the business revealed that the centres were usually aware that their servers had been compromised but would not act.

He said, “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.

“These centres also have their contact persons in JAMB, who are like a backbone to them. The claim that JAMB’s technology is working against malpractice is not true. There are many students still being helped to pass their exams. What these people do is use the backdoor of a particular centre’s server to carry out their work seamlessly, using mercenaries to write the exams.

“JAMB is not even able to detect their faces or anything. Some of these people do not rely on insiders; they hack directly into the centre’s database.”

But JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said hacking the board’s website was not possible, adding that it did not host questions on its website.

“Our systems are locally connected. It is through a Local Area Network, not Internet-enabled. So, no one can see it anywhere. No question has ever been on our website. The examination is not internet-enabled,” he added.

He clarified that what some individuals claimed to hack was the local server of some centres in connivance with owners of such places.

Fabian said, “There is no way somebody will see our questions, because they are like a text message in speed and delivery. We transmit our questions via a model to the centres, similar to that of a text message. It is a candidate’s biometric that grants access to the questions.”

Also, the National President of the Computer Based Test Centre Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Austin Ohaekelem, while applauding the JAMB registrar for reducing exam malpractices, said not all CBT centres were involved in exam fraud.

He noted that some genuine exam glitches were being erroneously tagged as fraud.

Ohaekelem stated, “Somehow, there are still some glitches along the line either at the point of exam registration or during the exam that happened inadvertently. It is now being seen as a fraud and a deliberate act to sabotage the examination.”

Explaining the cases of JAMB’s technical glitches, the national president expressed concern over the blacklisting of innocent centres over the issues.

He said, “There is a centre in Anambra State which was registering a candidate and the network went off, but the candidate picture had been captured. Because the network had a problem, it didn’t submit.

“The next candidate came to register and the person registering the former candidate started to register the new candidate, not knowing that the details of the first candidate were still there. The picture of the second person was used on the details of the first person. It was not deliberate. They got to know at the close of registration when they wanted to print a notification slip.

“There are other issues like biometric capture where each candidate will come and the scanner is not picking it and they keep trying, and the candidates are usually apprehensive. What should be the target of what is called fraud is when a person has the intention of undermining or compromising the examination.”

Commenting on the matter, the Secretary of the Association of Tutorial School Operators in Oyo State, Ogundokun Olufunso, raised concerns over desperate tactics employed by candidates to beat the system during examinations.

Olufunso said some students connived with technology experts to manipulate biometrics, while others fell victim to errors beyond their control.

“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 the examination.”

Olufunso stressed that while eradication of exam malpractice might be difficult, it could be reduced significantly if proper checks were maintained.

On the issue of “miracle centres,” he stated that most tutorial centres in the state had distanced themselves from such practices because of the risks involved.

He said, “I can categorically tell you that most tutorial centres are no longer involved in such things because it is risky, and we warn against it. How much will a student offer you to risk your future and career, and risk going to jail? If you go to jail, these students will continue their lives. So, all tutorial centres now have that mentality that it is better.”

He, however, urged JAMB to carry out internal reviews and ensure loopholes in its system were blocked to prevent manipulation.

Similarly, the Director of Toppers Coaching Centre, Ogun State, Emehinola Omodara, urged JAMB to re-examine its system and close loopholes that could encourage exam malpractice.

Omodara said, “You can’t come up with allegations without evidence. JAMB should go back to the drawing board and reappraise their system. They are trying, but all these loopholes should be worked on so that they can get a vote of confidence from the people.

“If they put their things in order, miracle centres will not exist. They should not be shifting blame, but look inward at their staff members and how the leakages are happening.”

Also speaking, the founder of Campusinfo Consult Limited, Taiwo Folorunsho, emphasised the need for a comprehensive upgrade of the JAMB’s technology to effectively curb malpractice and address its operational shortcomings.

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Education

Read how students can win FG’s ₦365m national laureate prize

Published

2 days ago

August 28, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

The Federal Government has opened the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, an annual ₦365 million scheme designed to reward and elevate outstanding research from Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of education.

Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, announced the opening of the prize on Thursday, following a press briefing with the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank National Laureate team.

He said the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by repositioning tertiary institutions as centres of research, innovation, enterprise and problem-solving rather than mere certificate-producing centres.

Prize structure

The annual prize fund of ₦365 million is structured as follows:

Undergraduate Star Prize: ₦35 million
Master’s Star Prize: ₦50 million
Doctoral Star Prize: ₦100 million
15 Thematic Excellence Prizes: ₦12 million each, totalling ₦180 million

Across six thematic areas, one national thematic laureate is selected at each of the three academic levels — undergraduate, master’s and doctoral — producing 18 laureates in total.

Three of these receive the Star Prizes, while the remaining 15 receive the thematic awards.

The six thematic areas are Science, Engineering and Technology; Medicine and Health Sciences; Arts and Social Sciences; Agriculture; Law; and Teaching Innovation.

A special Dr Stella Adadevoh Prize, or Excellence Award, for Medicine and Medical Innovation honours the late physician whose actions helped contain Nigeria’s 2014 Ebola outbreak.

It is conferred on the laureate whose work and conduct best embody integrity, national service and protection of the public good.

Who is eligible?

The prize is open to students and researchers in every accredited tertiary institution in Nigeria — federal, state or private.

Undergraduate dissertations or recognised equivalents, master’s theses and doctoral theses, or equivalents from polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education and similar institutions, are eligible if they demonstrate strong commercial potential, industrial application or clear developmental impact.

Works must meet research integrity and originality standards.

Every nominated work must first be deposited in the NERD system and issued a valid National Document Number.

An NDN confirms deposit but does not automatically enter a work into the competition.

How students can position themselves to win

Students cannot submit entries directly. Only institutions, through their formally constituted Institution Laureate Selection Committees, can nominate and enter works.

Each institution may submit up to 18 entries: up to six undergraduate, six master’s and six doctoral entries, or their equivalents, drawn from the six thematic areas, generally one per theme at each level.

To maximise their chances, students should:

Produce exceptional work with demonstrable commercial, industrial or developmental value that addresses national challenges.
Ensure the dissertation, project or thesis is fully submitted to NERD and assigned a valid NDN before the institutional selection window closes.
Actively engage their supervisor, co-supervisor, head of department and other academic leaders. Ask them to present their work to the Institution Laureate Selection Committee for independent review.

Institutional selection is the first gateway. High-quality research and proper NERD compliance can improve the prospects of nomination.

How institutions submit entries

Once an institution’s Laureate Selection Committee has chosen its strongest works, authorised members follow the submission process on the National Laureate portal.

Step 1: Log in to the National Laureate Committee portal. This assumes the institution has constituted its Laureate Selection Committee and directed its NERD Focal Officer to enrol and formally designate the appointed members on NERD. Committee members require this designation to access the Laureate portal using their existing NERD credentials.

Step 2: On the Laureate Dashboard, click Manage Institution Entries from the top-right menu.

Step 3: The next page will display the dissertations, projects and theses submitted within the institution, grouped under the relevant academic levels: undergraduate, master’s and doctoral, or their recognised equivalents.

Step 4: Use the filters at the top of the page to search for a specific dissertation, project or thesis.

Step 5: Once the work the committee intends to enter is located, click View to review the submission details carefully and confirm that all information is correct.

Step 6: On the View page, click View Submission Evidence to confirm that all required departmental and institutional attestations have been supplied.

Step 7: Click Open Authoritative Student File to view the exact PDF of the dissertation, project or thesis as originally submitted.

Step 8: If everything is in order, click Back to Previous Page or Back to Dashboard to return to the relevant work.

Step 9: Tick the oath checkbox and read the declaration carefully before proceeding. By ticking the box, the committee is making the prescribed institutional declaration in respect of the entry.

Step 10: Click Submit Entry. This completes the submission process for that entry. The committee may then proceed to review and submit other eligible works.

Deadline for submission

The deadline for institutional entries is August 31, 2026.

What happens after institutional submission?

Entries progress through a three-tier process: Institution Committee, Regional (zonal) Committee, and National Committee.

The National Laureate Committee, chaired by Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo, oversees the final evaluation.

The process is designed to be transparent, competitive and merit-driven, with emphasis on academic excellence and impact.

Winners are expected to be honoured at a National Laureate Gala later in the year, previously indicated for November.

Source: punchng.com

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Education

WAEC result crisis worsens as official alleges irregularities, glitches

Published

2 days ago

August 28, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

The crisis surrounding the recently released West African Examinations Council 2026 results for school candidates has deepen following an allegations of glitches and irregularities by an official of the examination body.

The Head of Examinations at the WAEC office covering in Anambra, Olanrewaju Fadehan, made the allegations in a now viral video, claiming that candidates who sat the computer-based version of the examination were particularly affected.

Fadehan alleged that the problems were noticeable around the release of the results, which he said was initially expected to be announced between August 3 and 5, 2026, adding that WAEC had traditionally released results on Mondays.

He said, “Obviously, there was a problem because the press was eagerly waiting on Monday, the scheduled date. There was a need to quickly do some last-minute adjustments. Something was wrong.”

According to him, the alleged last-minute adjustments affected candidates who sat the computer-based examination, particularly in subjects including Mathematics, English and Igbo.

He also expressed concern over reports that some candidates from the South-East performed poorly in Igbo, despite the subject being widely spoken in the region.

Fadehan said schools that invested heavily in computer-based examination facilities were also affected, alleging that some spent over N60m establishing the facilities in anticipation of the transition to CBT.

“The call for a review this year is particularly disturbing, as it is alarming. Schools that subscribed to the CBT innovation of WAEC were badly hit. Some of them spent upwards of N60m and above to set up their CBT facilities,” he alleged.

He further alleged that some candidates were not provided with appropriate calculators during the examination, claiming that the development contributed to poor performance in mathematics and other calculation-based subjects.

Fadehan said he had raised concerns about the alleged irregularities during the examination and subsequently petitioned relevant authorities, including the WAEC Board, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examining Bodies and the Minister of Education.

He alleged that rather than addressing his complaints, he was subjected to disciplinary proceedings and subsequently placed on interdiction.

“I call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to investigate the cause of failure of candidates, particularly those who chose the computer-based WAEC,” he said.

He also made allegations of financial impropriety against the management of the examination body, including claims concerning the supply of calculators, students’ identification cards and charges imposed on candidates and other service seekers.

He urged the federal government and other stakeholders to investigate the allegations, stressing that the integrity of the examination system was important to the future of Nigerian students.

When contacted for a reaction to the allegations on Thursday, the WAEC Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, declined to comment on the matter.

“No comment for now,” she said.

The PUNCH reported on August 18 that the examination body is facing growing scrutiny over the integrity of its released WASSCE results for school candidates, as school administrators and education advocates allege grading anomalies and technical glitches linked to the expanded Computer-Based Testing rollout.

The concerns had followed complaints from school administrators and education advocates who claim that some high-performing students received lower grades than expected, based on their academic records and performance in other standardised assessments.

Source: punchng.com

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Education

FG halts foreign scholarships, redirects funds home

Published

3 days ago

August 27, 2026

Newsbreak365_Admin

The Federal Government is reviewing its foreign scholarship and bilateral education arrangements as part of efforts to eliminate unnecessary expenditure and redirect public resources towards strengthening Nigerian tertiary institutions, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said.

Alausa said the government could no longer justify spending scarce public funds to send students abroad to study programmes that are already available in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

The minister disclosed this while explaining the rationale behind the Federal Government’s decision to review its overseas scholarship arrangements, stressing that the policy was driven by the need to build domestic capacity and ensure better value for public expenditure.

He recalled that shortly after assuming office, he was presented with a proposal involving about 100,000 Nigerian students travelling to Morocco to study courses taught in English, including mass communication and journalism.

According to him, the proposal raised serious concerns because the courses were already available in Nigeria, while the students would have had to spend their first year learning French before commencing their programmes.

Alausa said, “Number one, we have all those courses in Nigeria. And yet, number two, they were going to spend the first year learning French before they started the programme.”

He added that the cost of supporting such students abroad could not be justified when Nigeria had developed considerable capacity in its tertiary institutions over the years.

“And number three, in the position of a few million to support this in Nigeria, we support thousands of them,” he said.

The minister said the government therefore concluded that continuing the arrangement in its previous form would amount to an inefficient use of public resources.

“So the Bilateral Education Agreement was not making sense, again, to us in government. It was a way to waste government funds,” Alausa said.

He added, “And this President will not waste any public funds.”

The latest position builds on the Federal Government’s earlier decision to discontinue government-funded BEA scholarships while retaining support for students already enrolled under the previous arrangements.

The Federal Government has clarified that existing beneficiaries of the bilateral scholarship programme would not be abandoned and would continue to receive support until the completion of their studies, while new government-funded awards under the arrangement were discontinued following a review of the programme.

The policy does not amount to a blanket ban on Nigerians receiving scholarships from foreign governments.

Foreign governments willing to sponsor Nigerian students can continue to offer such opportunities, but the Federal Government intends to be more selective about committing Nigerian public funds to overseas education.

Alausa similarly explained that foreign countries willing to continue sponsoring Nigerian students could do so without necessarily requiring financial support from the Nigerian government.

The minister said the circumstances that justified sending large numbers of Nigerian students abroad decades ago had changed considerably.

“When those programmes were set up 20 years ago, they were meant to get students to go to the government colleges where we did not have capacity.

“But in the last 20 years, we’ve built a number of capacities in the tertiary institutions — universities, polytechnics and colleges,” he added.

The scholarship review comes amid broader reforms by the Federal Ministry of Education aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s education system under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The reforms have focused increasingly on strengthening domestic tertiary institutions, expanding technical and vocational education and training, improving digital education, promoting research and innovation, and making education more responsive to the needs of the economy.

The Federal Government has also intensified efforts to strengthen technical and vocational education and training, with emphasis on modernising curricula, developing industry-relevant skills and improving the capacity of institutions to produce graduates who can contribute directly to economic development.

Alausa has repeatedly argued that education spending must produce measurable outcomes, particularly given the country’s competing development needs and limited public resources.

The push to retain more education spending within Nigeria also reflects the government’s broader objective of strengthening local institutions rather than relying excessively on overseas opportunities.

Alausa said the government’s approach was not simply about withdrawing foreign scholarships but ensuring that public resources were deployed where they would have the greatest impact.

He cited an instance involving scholarship beneficiaries who were expected to study abroad but were instead studying in Nigerian universities, saying such situations further demonstrated the need to review the system.

“So we have to start with Nigerians,” the minister said.

The Federal Government has simultaneously been strengthening domestic student support mechanisms, including scholarships and bursaries for Nigerian students and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which provides financial support to students in tertiary institutions.

Alausa said the government’s broader objective was to create a tertiary education system capable of producing the skills, research and innovations required for national development.

He recently inaugurated the Tertiary Institution National Gallery Prize Committee to recognise outstanding academic research and innovation, particularly research with potential for commercialisation and industrial application.

“We want undergraduate researchers to see a clear pathway from academic research to industrial application, enterprise, innovation, and national development,” he said.

The minister said Nigeria could no longer afford to measure the success of its education system simply by the number of certificates awarded.

“The most successful nations of the 21st century will not necessarily be those endowed with greater natural resources. They will be those that can systematically transform knowledge into solutions, research and intellectual capital into economic and industrial value,” Alausa said.

Source: punchng.com

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