The Federal Government of Nigeria has proposed establishing a National Examination Malpractice Court/Tribunal to promptly prosecute examination fraud and serve as a deterrent against cheating.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made this announcement while receiving a report from a 17-member committee tasked with improving examination quality in Abuja.
The committee, chaired by Professor Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), submitted a comprehensive 12-point report aimed at tackling examination malpractice and improving the examination system.
The committee’s recommendations include measures against impersonation, such as including National Identification Number (NIN), photographs, and date of birth on examination documents to prevent identity theft and impersonation.
Invigilators and supervisors would also be required to register using their NIN and subscribe to the examination body’s short code for digital tracking.
Additionally, the committee suggested equipping examination halls with stationary CCTV cameras for surveillance and monitoring purposes, establishing mini control rooms to monitor CCTV footage, and deploying body camcorders for effective monitoring.
Other key recommendations include generating a unique code linked to NIN for pupils throughout their educational journey, reviewing the 1999 Examination Malpractice Act to make it immediately implementable, and reviewing the Continuous Assessment System due to fraudulent processes in inputting scores.
The committee also proposed implementing Computer-Based Examinations (CBE) for objective questions in 2025 private examinations and in full for school candidates in 2026.
Dr. Alausa assured that all 12 recommendations would be implemented to curb examination malpractice and improve the integrity of Nigeria’s examination system.
The proposed National Examination Malpractice Court/Tribunal would work to promptly prosecute examination malpractices and serve as a deterrent to others.
The government aims to deploy all its machineries to fight the menace of examination malpractice.
