FG proposes special court to tackle exam malpractice

The Federal Government has proposed the establishment of a special court or tribunal to address the rising cases of examination malpractice in the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, in Abuja, while receiving the report of the Committee on the Improvement of Quality of Examinations in Nigeria.
The committee, which was inaugurated in January 2025, is chaired by the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and consists of 17 members. It submitted its report after five months of extensive deliberations.
Dr. Alausa commended the committee for its work and assured that the Federal Government would implement all the 12 recommendations submitted, particularly the proposal to establish a National Examination Malpractice Court/Tribunal, which aims at ensuring speedy prosecution of offenders and deterring future infractions.
“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.”
According to the report, one of the key recommendations was for the Federal Ministry of Education to liaise with the National Assembly to enact a law that would give legal backing to the proposed tribunal for prompt and efficient prosecution of examination offenders.
The committee also suggested that documents such as certificates, registration forms, and result slips must contain the National Identification Number (NIN), candidate’s photograph, and date of birth to curb identity theft and impersonation.
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Additionally, the committee recommended that all examination officials, including invigilators and supervisors, must register with their NIN and subscribe to the examination body’s Short Code system — similar to JAMB’s 55019/66019 — for proper tracking and monitoring.
It was also recommended that invigilators and supervisors be swapped for each examination, starting with the 2025 Private Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), based on the unanimous position of the four major examination bodies: WAEC, NECO, NABTEB, and NBAIS.
The committee further advised that, wherever possible, invigilators and supervisors should be public servants or teachers on pensionable appointments, and that the standard requirements for examination halls must not be compromised. It maintained that the seating arrangement in exam halls should adhere to a minimum spacing of 1.5m by 1.2m or 1.8 square metres per candidate.
To enhance monitoring and security, the committee recommended the installation of stationary CCTV cameras in all examination halls and centres. These centres are also expected to have mini control rooms to monitor the footage for real-time alerts.
In addition, the committee proposed that examination bodies should jointly own central surveillance control facilities to cut costs and enhance coordination. It also called for the deployment of body-worn cameras for invigilators in exam halls.
On candidate identification, it recommended that every pupil be issued a unique code linked to their NIN at the point of entry into basic education. This unique identifier would be used to track the pupil’s progress through the education system.
The committee also raised concerns about the lack of enforcement of the 1999 Examination Malpractice Act, attributing this to either an absence of political will or structural defects in the Act. It therefore called for a review of the law to ensure its relevance and enforceability.
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On reforms in examination administration, the committee advised that the Computer-Based Examination (CBE) system be adopted for objective questions in the 2025 private exams, and fully implemented for school candidates by 2026.
Addressing concerns about the Continuous Assessment (CA) component of the SSCE, the committee noted that the current process had become susceptible to manipulation, with scores often inputted retroactively. It therefore recommended that the CA system be immediately reviewed by relevant agencies to restore integrity to the examination process.
The Federal Government’s commitment to these reforms marks a significant step towards sanitising Nigeria’s examination system and restoring public confidence in the credibility of academic certifications.