By Ayomide Otitoju
Twenty suspects have been arrested in Abuja for allegedly hacking the 2025 Computer-Based Test (CBT) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The arrests were made by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force. The suspects are believed to be members of a syndicate comprising over 100 individuals, who specialise in breaching the computer servers of national examination bodies, including JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
According to security sources, the suspects confessed to deliberately sabotaging JAMB’s CBT infrastructure to undermine the credibility of the examination and discourage the continued use of digital testing platforms by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Investigations revealed that the group manipulated scores for candidates who paid between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million for guaranteed high marks. Several suspects are reported to own private schools and operate so-called “special centres” that profit from exam fraud.
Sources said the aim was to exploit the CBT format for financial gain while discrediting the system to create a market for analogue examinations vulnerable to malpractice.
This year’s JAMB exam performance saw over 78 percent of candidates scoring below 200 out of a possible 400 marks. On May 14, JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede disclosed that results for 379,997 candidates across 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East were affected by technical failures.
He blamed a software update issue by one of JAMB’s technical service providers for preventing candidates’ responses from uploading during the first three days of the examination — an error not detected before results were initially released.
To address the issue, JAMB conducted a resit for affected candidates between May 16 and May 19. Investigations into the hacking syndicate and broader implications for national exams are ongoing.
