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 arrests were carried out in Abuja by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force.
The suspects are said to be members of a larger syndicate comprising over 100 individuals, who specialise in breaching the computer servers of examination bodies such as JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
Security sources revealed that the suspects have confessed to deliberately sabotaging the CBT system to discredit JAMB and deter students from embracing CBT-based assessments, especially in future examinations conducted by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
It was further disclosed that the syndicate manipulated scores for selected candidates, who paid between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million for inflated results.
Many members of the syndicate reportedly own private schools and colleges, and operate so-called “special centres,” where they earn substantial profits from compromised examination practices.
This development follows the release of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results two weeks ago.
An analysis of the results indicated that over 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 out of a possible 400 points.
On May 14, JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, announced that the results of 379,997 candidates across 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East were affected by technical failures.
He attributed the issue to faulty server updates, which prevented candidate responses from being uploaded during the first three days of the examination. The fault, caused by one of the board’s technical service providers, was only discovered after the initial results were released.
As a corrective measure, JAMB commenced a resit of the affected exams starting 16 May, with the process extending beyond May 19.