The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has confirmed the arrest of multiple suspects involved in hacking the local servers used during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The board revealed that the suspects, including some proprietors of schools and Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres, were apprehended for their roles in manipulating examination processes through digital means.
During a recent press briefing, the JAMB Registrar acknowledged discrepancies in the 2025 UTME results, which led to the decision to conduct a resit examination for over 390,000 candidates. The board has since released the results of the resit exam and disclosed a number of alarming practices uncovered during investigations.According to a statement released by JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the breaches were the result of high-level collusion between candidates, school operators, and accredited centres. These individuals reportedly manipulated local networks to gain remote access to candidate systems, submitting answers fraudulently.
JAMB clarified that although local servers at some CBT centres were compromised, the board’s central server remained secure and unaffected.Security operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force arrested no fewer than 20 individuals in connection with the cyberattack. Further investigations also exposed advanced forms of impersonation and registration fraud, including the use of artificial intelligence and biometric manipulation.
Over 3,000 candidates have been identified so far as either beneficiaries or accomplices in what JAMB described as an extraordinary level of examination malpractice. The board has vowed to withdraw the results of all candidates found culpable once investigations confirm their involvement, regardless of whether their results had previously been released. JAMB extended its gratitude to the security agencies for their efforts and reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the integrity of Nigeria’s tertiary admission process.
