The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has commended the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) on successes recorded with the use of Computer Based Test (CBT) in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
He then said the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examiner Council (NECO) will also be CBT from November, 2025.
Speaking Monday in Abuja, while monitoring UTME in Bwari, Alausa said CBT exams will discourage examination malpractice, saying he has set up a committee to make recommendations for quality exams in Nigeria.
He said: “I’ve just gone around with the Registrar of Joint Admissions Matriculation Board to monitor the 2025-2026 academic session examination. I went to several CBT centres and the team at JAMB also took me around their digital operation from their control room to how exams are being monitored all over the country. I must tell you I am extremely impressed. The way JAMB is conducting its annual exam meets all international benchmark. It’s an exam that is CBT based and it’s been fool proof for people to cheat.
“So this is an exam that is done, monitored, coordinated with the highest level of integrity and I’m happy that we’re able to do this in Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu puts so much emphasis on human capital development like areas of education, health and social protection. The president is also working hard to fix all facets of the economy. We have a president that believes strongly in rule of law. JAMB is able to conduct this kind of exam that meets all international standards, so we’re moving.
“Also, we’re going to get WAEC and NECO by November of this year to also start their objective exam on CBT. The 2026 exams, which will come up in May/June, both the objectives and the essay will be fully on CBT. That is how we can eliminate exam malpractices. We want our children to study and not go ahead to perfect ways of cheating.
“When some students cheat during the exams, it disincentivizes the hard-working ones. If you’re working hard for an exam and you see people getting leaked questions, you won’t be happy. You will also be bad and that’s what we want to eliminate completely. I set up a committee, led by Professor Oloyede, for monitoring of exam quality. I’ll be getting the result of that committee by the end of next month.
“They’ve been taxed to decipher the examination process that includes all the exams we do at all levels of our school and come up with expansive recommendations on how we can maintain the highest quality of examinations that meet any standard, compared to anywhere in the world. I’m hopeful. I am awaiting those reports. I have mandated both the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examiner Council (NECO) to start implementing computer-based exams from the November exams of 2025.
“Let’s be factual here. About JAMB, I just went to their control room and I can give real time numbers. JAMB conducts exams for about 2.2 million people across the country. It’s 100% CBT. The annual number of people that write WAEC is about 1.8 million people and also for NECO. So, if JAMB can conduct a CBT based exam for 2 million people, I see no reason why WAEC and NECO cannot do the same thing. I know they have other components in the exams; they have the practical, they have essay and the objective part of the exam, but at least both essay and objective would have to be done via CBT. That’s why we’ve staggered it. November exams, they will do CBT for the objectives. By May/June/July of 2006 both essays and objectives will be done via CBT.”
Also speaking, Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, said candidates are usually urged to come by 6:30am in order to be verified on time, adding that over 1,600,000 candidates have participated in the exam as of Monday morning.
He said: “This is one of our best examinations so far, for which we are grateful to God. You can also see that some people are making a case out of no case. We have always started our exams at 8 o’clock. The first session is 8 o’clock, the second session 10.30, the third session 1pm and the fourth session at 3.30pm.
“But every reasonable person will know that these children are young and you need to let them know that they don’t get there at 8am. They have some preliminary things to do. We must check the 250 of them that we are inviting. We must check their papers.
“So, we expect them to do that for about 45 minutes. If we now ask these children to arrive at the centre by 6:30am, I don’t know if anybody can say that, oh, my own child arrived at 7.30 and they sent him back. But should we tell them to arrive by 7.30? How many of them will miss the exam?
“We have this mob mentality. When you have people who have no job, they will throw something to people and people will be discussing without even finding out. We start our exam just like any work day at 8 a.m. Even in their school, they start school at 8 o’clock, so what is bad in fixing our exam for 8 o’clock and asking the children to arrive at 6:30am, so that we can screen 250 of them?
“I’ve had one uninformed person say that we send people to centers other than what they have chosen. We have thrown the challenge, bring one of such person, just one person and we will give you a lot of money. You can never find that because it will be unreasonable to post a person to where he or she has not chosen. They must have indicated where they want, but some of these children deceive their parents.
“We have had many cases of somebody choosing Sokoto and telling the father that he choose Lagos. When you ask, the boy will say I want to go to Sokoto because I want to know Sokoto. I’m from Sokoto or something of that nature. If it’s not you, it’s not you. You cannot entrust your ATM card to your child, but when the child now tells you some fabrications, you believe.
“There was a case that a very big man confronted us yesterday that somebody applied to Katsina and we posted him to Funtua, instead of Katsina town. We said bring the evidence, where is the evidence? When he brought the evidence I was taking aback. The person was posted to Dr Funtua CBT Center in Katsina. But once he saw Funtua, he went to Funtua. When he got to Funtua, where are you going, Dr Funtua CBT Center, where in Katsina and the thing is both boldly Dr Funtua CBT Center.
“Out of 2,031,000 candidates, we have covered over 1,600,000 plus now. And we have less than 600,000. By the end of today, there will just be 40,000 or 50,000 that will be rounding off tomorrow. But we are still going to do some things because every time, we improve. You will see that we have not released the result and we are not in a hurry to release the result as they must be verified.
“We have arrested over 40 people for impersonation and some of them are very funny. Some even went to our examination hall with camera to snap the screen and be sending it out. They don’t know that our own exam is not that type of exam. At least 40 persons are in custody and we will see that they are prosecuted. We don’t reschedule for anybody. If you are going to the UK and you miss the flight, will you tell the plane to come back?”