JAMB Uncovers Scam As Thousands Vanish From Exam

More than 80 percent of candidates registered for Saturday’s mop-up UTME failed to appear at their designated centres.

Only about 12 percent of the 98,232 candidates showed up nationwide, according to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this on Saturday while monitoring the exercise at a CBT centre in Abuja.

He said the Board expected poor turnout due to intensified security measures against impersonators and organised cheating syndicates.

Oloyede confirmed that mop-up exams usually target 4,000 to 5,000 students with genuine reasons for missing the main UTME.

This year, he said, JAMB extended the opportunity to all absentees, following widespread complaints and intelligence input from security agencies.

He said the open-door strategy also aimed to smoke out impersonators exploiting exam loopholes in collaboration with criminal rings.

“Those who even indicated they would come were just 12,000 out of over 90,000,” Oloyede told journalists at the monitoring site.

He noted that most centres nationwide saw poor attendance, some recording fewer than 20 candidates out of 250 expected.

Syndicates, Fake Albinos, and Picture Blending

The Registrar blamed tutorial centres and some private school owners for fuelling impersonation and aiding exam malpractice.

“These tutorial centres are not preparing students. They are just factories for examination fraud,” he said, raising strong concern.

He disclosed that some fraudsters claimed to be albinos in order to bypass facial recognition during biometric verification.

JAMB data shows only 100 albinos normally apply yearly, but this year saw over 1,700 self-declared albinos.

A suspicious CBT centre registered over 450 supposed albinos, a red flag that triggered investigations into biometric manipulations.

“Some fraudsters learned that AI verification detects pigmentation. So, they falsely declared as albinos to trick our facial recognition system,” Oloyede said.

He added that JAMB traced the impersonation method to picture blending, a tactic involving digitally combining two facial photos.

Arrested suspects confessed to using software that blends a candidate’s face with an impersonator’s photo to deceive JAMB systems.

Oloyede cited a case in Benin, where an arrested black candidate falsely claimed to be an albino to cheat the system.

He warned that security agents were already trailing impersonators, most of whom had valid registrations and traceable phone numbers.

“The SSS and police have picked up several suspects already. More arrests will follow,” he added confidently.

He said mop-up results may not be released immediately due to ongoing scrutiny to remove fraudulent records and prosecute offenders.

“Saturday results may come on Monday to allow us screen out impersonators and exam cheats,” he stated.

Parents, Institutions Face Crackdown over Fake Certificates

Oloyede announced that 14 candidates seeking Direct Entry had already been caught presenting forged academic certificates.

He revealed that some students skipped NCE programmes but still received fake NCE results to gain university admission.

“We discovered one case where a student who finished secondary school in 2021 got admitted into NCE in 2020,” he said.

He explained that many of these forgeries exploited a government condonement policy granted to over one million illegal admissions.

“But these new ones are post-2020 and deliberately forged. They’re not innocent. And institutions helping them must face the law,” he said.

He said some “graduates” of engineering and medicine failed to pass core subjects like Mathematics and Biology before admission.

“Now they’re coming to write GCE after graduation. It doesn’t work like that. You must qualify before the training,” he warned.

He accused some institutions of issuing fraudulent results and warned that JAMB will blacklist and sanction them severely.

“We have closed the gate against these fraudulent routes. But they’re still trying. And they’ll pay for it,” Oloyede declared.

He also hinted at possible prosecution of parents financing malpractice through syndicates and tutorial centre operators.

“This war against malpractice must involve everyone—the ministry, security agencies, parents, schools and exam bodies,” he stated strongly.

Oloyede reaffirmed JAMB’s commitment to integrity, vowing to expose every fake entry, certificate, or impersonation effort.

He stressed that Nigerian education must no longer reward fraud, but only merit, discipline, and hard work.

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