No fewer than twenty suspects have been arrested for allegedly hacking the 2025 Computer-Based Test (CBT) examinations conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The suspects were apprehended in Abuja by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force.
According to security sources, the arrested individuals are part of a syndicate comprising over 100 members, who specialise in hacking into the computer servers of major examination bodies, including JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects had confessed to deliberately sabotaging the CBT system in a bid to discredit JAMB and discourage the continued use of CBT for future examinations conducted by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
The cyber intrusion was allegedly orchestrated to inflate scores for so-called “special candidates” who paid between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million to secure high marks. It was further gathered that several members of the syndicate operate private schools and tutorial centres, which they use as fronts for these illicit activities, generating substantial income from examination malpractice.
This development comes just two weeks after JAMB released the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), in which over 78 per cent of candidates reportedly scored below 200 out of a possible 400 marks.
During a press briefing on 14 May, JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates across 157 CBT centres in Lagos and the South-East were affected due to technical issues. He explained that faulty server updates—linked to one of JAMB’s technical service providers—prevented candidate responses from being uploaded during the first three days of the examination. The glitch, he said, went undetected prior to the initial release of results.
In response, the board organised a resit examination for the affected candidates, which commenced on 16 May and extended beyond 19 May.
Security agencies have pledged to intensify efforts in dismantling the syndicate’s network and ensuring that all those involved face the full weight of the law.
