The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed a disturbing surge in the use of fake A-Level certificates, with at least 585 cases uncovered in 2025 alone.
This was published in the Board’s weekly bulletin of 7 April. According to the bulletin, the Board’s Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede made the revelation during a virtual meeting with JAMB staff ahead of the 2025 Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the main UTME.
Professor Oloyede expressed concern over the growing trend of forged advanced level qualifications, describing it as a serious threat to the integrity of Nigeria’s education system.
He explained that it was in response to such issues that the Nigeria Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (NIPED) was established. NIPED is a central platform designed to manage and verify data related to post-secondary education in Nigeria.
More worrisome, according to him, was the discovery that 13 of the forged IJMB certificates had been uploaded by Professional Registration Centres (PRCs), which are being investigated by the police.
According to him, four individuals linked to the cases have already been arrested and are assisting the police and relevant authorities with their investigations, especially in identifying the ringleaders of these examination cartels.
The Registrar hinted that investigation has also revealed the possibility of internal collaborators within the institutions aiding and abetting the gross misconduct.
He further disclosed that there were reports of extortion of candidates for services expected to be free by some CBT centres, describing the situation as ‘mind-boggling’ and detrimental to the integrity of the system.
He enjoined staff to be committed to their duties and shun acts capable of undermining the integrity of the Board and entire admission process. “This is not the kind of news we should be hearing at this stage. We must all take collective responsibility to protect the sanctity of our educational assessments,” he said.
920 technical officers trained for mock, UTME
Ahead of the 2025 mock and main UTME slated for 10 April, and 25 April respectively, JAMB has trained no fewer than 920 Technical Officers (TOs) who are to conduct the examinations.
The training which was held virtually for the TOs was hosted from JAMB’s National Headquarters in Abuja on 3 April according to the Board’s bulletin.
During the training, the chairman, Chief Technical Advisor (CTA), Bashir Galadanci urged the TOs to see their engagement as a call to national duty, noting that their roles are extremely important to the success of the examinations..
Professor Galadanci noted that all the Chief External Examiners(CEEs), and Chief Technical Advisors (CTAs) are on ground to assist with the national assignment.
He urged the new TOs to pay attention to specific details on the examination delivery system and live demos.
“Be diligent to check and make sure you have complete and functional items in your server bags including the mifi, scanners, SIMs, laptop chargers, hard drives, among other collectibles.”
In his presentation, the Board’s IT Consultant, Damilola Bamiro described the arrival and the examination start-up time as sacrosanct.
Mr Bamiro took the TOs through the pre-examination activities, server management, general policies of the 90-minute examination, rescheduling, and capturing of unverified candidates.
He stressed the need for TOs to account for all the candidates posted to their centres, copy the CCTV footage, get access to the entire Local Area Network (LAN), while he urged them to be calm and composed when faced with challenges.
Over N397m transport allowance
Also, ahead of the mock UTME, JAMB has released over ₦397 million as transport allowances to 1,909 officials participating in the conduct of the examination, which is scheduled to take place nationwide on 10 April
The Board’s Director of Finance, Mufutau Bello disclosed this during a strategic meeting held in Abuja on Monday to review the Board’s preparedness for both the mock exam and the main UTME.
Bello explained that the amount disbursed represents only the initial phase, covering one-third of the total number of officials involved in the exercise.
He said, “The mock exam is the first phase of our core mandate, and we must, as always, distinguish ourselves because the nation relies on the success of this exercise, and any shortcoming could tarnish the integrity of our education system.”
UTME
UTME is the entrance examination that determines candidates’ eligibility and suitability for admission into various degree programmes offered by universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other institutions in Nigeria.
It is a computer-based test (CBT) that assesses the academic ability and aptitude of candidates who wish to pursue higher education in Nigeria. UTME covers four subjects that are relevant to the course of study that the candidate intends to apply for.
Recall that JAMB had announced that candidates registered for the 2025 mock UTME could print their notification slips.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Board’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said the notification slip contains crucial information such as the examination date, venue, time, and other essential details needed to successfully sit for the examination.
