The moral rot uncovered by JAMB panel
The revelations of the Special Committee on Examination Infractions empanelled by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have thrown Nigeria into another moment of sober reflection. What the committee uncovered is not merely an administrative lapse or a technical flaw; it is nothing short of the moral debasement of a country that has gradually […]
The revelations of the Special Committee on Examination Infractions empanelled by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have thrown Nigeria into another moment of sober reflection. What the committee uncovered is not merely an administrative lapse or a technical flaw; it is nothing short of the moral debasement of a country that has gradually allowed rot to seep into its foundations. If leaders in government, schools and homes permit examination malpractice to flourish unchecked, they are not just failing in their duty, they are consigning Nigeria’s future generations to the abyss of mediocrity and corruption.
The committee, chaired by the respected disability rights advocate, Dr Jake Epelle, painstakingly reviewed the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Its findings, submitted to JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, were damning. More than 4,000 cases of “finger blending” – a deliberate falsification of biometric verification – were uncovered, alongside 190 shocking instances of artificial intelligence-assisted impersonation through image morphing. In a country already reeling from the consequences of widespread corruption, this brazen manipulation of technology for criminal advantage is a confirmation that dishonesty has been elevated to a science.
The committee further exposed 1,878 false disability claims, forged credentials, multiple National Identification Number registrations and collusion between candidates and criminal syndicates. This was not the handiwork of isolated actors. A broad network involving parents, tutorial centres, schools and some unscrupulous computer-based test (CBT) operators was implicated. Even more disturbing, the panel highlighted weaknesses in Nigeria’s legal framework that have emboldened perpetrators. When crime is not punished, it is normalised. And once normalised, it becomes aspirational.
The danger is obvious. Parents, who should be the moral compass of their children, are now the very architects of fraud. Desperate to secure admission for their wards at all costs, they bankroll elaborate cheating schemes, recruit middlemen and bribe officials. Schools that should stand as citadels of knowledge and integrity have shamelessly opened their gates to manipulation, motivated more by greed than any sense of responsibility. Some officials within JAMB itself, despite the board’s commendable reforms in recent years, were found complicit. And the security agencies tasked with safeguarding the system? Some of them, too, stand accused of compromise.
What does this say about Nigeria? It mirrors a wider national malaise where anything goes, and where shortcuts are more celebrated than honesty. The child who sees his father or mother aid him in exam malpractice is being tutored in corruption. The message drilled into his impressionable mind is simple: hard work is futile, dishonesty pays. This is how countries collapse, not with the sudden boom of cannons but with the quiet corrosion of values.
Dr Epelle and his colleagues rightly described their assignment as “a fight for the soul of meritocracy in Nigeria.” Indeed, meritocracy is gasping for breath. If our universities are populated by students who secured admission through fraud, can we expect them to graduate as competent doctors, engineers or administrators? A society that rewards deceit in the classroom will inevitably suffer incompetence in its hospitals, decay in its infrastructure and inefficiency in its public service.
The panel’s recommendations are robust. They include deploying AI-powered biometric anomaly detectors, establishing a real-time Examination Security Operations Centre, sanctioning offenders with bans and prosecutions and creating a Central Sanctions Registry to hold institutions accountable. Legal reforms were also proposed, including updating the JAMB Act and Examination Malpractice Act to address digital era crimes. Importantly, for offenders below 18, rehabilitative measures, including counselling, supervised reintegration and guidance under the Child Rights Act were recommended instead of purely punitive sanctions.
We at Daily Trust endorse these recommendations wholeheartedly. But we also believe that this moment demands more. Other examination bodies like the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) must emulate JAMB’s courage in subjecting themselves to independent scrutiny. It is not enough for one board to clean its house while the rest operate in darkness.
A national coalition against exam malpractice is urgently needed, one that unites all testing agencies, schools, security agencies, the civil society and parents’ associations. The cancer is systemic; the cure must be collective.
Furthermore, parents implicated in these schemes cannot be let off lightly. They should also be subjected to rehabilitation after they are named and shamed. Nigeria has reached a stage where dishonesty thrives, precisely because there is no consequence. Unless we institute a culture of public accountability, where offenders are unmasked and disgraced, the cycle will persist. Schools that collude must also be sanctioned, tutorial centres shut down and CBT operators blacklisted. The same goes for corrupt JAMB officials and compromised security agents.
At the same time, JAMB itself must go further. While its leadership deserves commendation for opening its processes to external review, the board cannot afford to rest on its laurels. It must purge itself of rogue elements who, by their actions, tarnish the institution’s credibility.
The revelations of the Epelle committee should, therefore, not be treated as another report gathering dust on government’s shelves. They must spark a national reckoning. At present, Nigeria stands at a crossroads, and we can choose to continue down this dark path of moral collapse or turn back and rebuild the values of honesty, merit and hard work.