JAMB uncovers AI-assisted exam fraud in 2025 Nigeria university entrance tests
Nigeria's JAMB investigating body identified 190 cases of AI-enabled exam impersonation using image morphing technology during the 2025 university entrance examinations. The committee also uncovered 4,251 cases of fingerprint fraud and other malpractices, finding that parents, schools and exam centres were complicit in systematically undermining exam integrity.
What happened
JAMB's Special Committee on Examination Infractions (SCEI), inaugurated on 18 August 2025, investigated irregularities detected during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and presented its findings to the JAMB Registrar on 8 September 2025. The committee uncovered 4,251 cases of 'finger blending' and 190 instances of AI-assisted impersonation through image morphing.
Reported impact
According to committee chairman Dr. Jake Epelle, malpractice has become highly organised, technology-driven, and dangerously normalised. Parents, tutorial centres, schools, and some CBT operators were complicit in the fraud, while weak legal frameworks made enforcement difficult.
Index analysis
The committee documented 1,878 false disability claims, forged credentials, multiple National Identification Number registrations, and collusion between candidates and examination syndicates, revealing that technology-driven malpractice was threatening the integrity of Nigeria's admission process.
Governance controls
The committee recommended deploying AI-powered biometric anomaly tools, real-time monitoring, and establishing a central Examination Security Operations Centre. It also called for cancellation of fraudulent results, sanctions of one to three-year bans for offenders, prosecution of offenders, legal reforms to the JAMB Act and Examination Malpractice Act to cover biometric and digital fraud, and a nationwide Integrity First campaign.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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