Regina Otokpa 
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Olatunji Alausa, has commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), for the seamless conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which according to him, meets all international standards.
This was as the minister disclosed that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) would partially adopt the Computer Based Test (CBT) model starting with the objective part of examinations by November this year, and fully adopt CBT for both objective and essay by May/June 2026.
Alausa yesterday monitored the ongoing UTME in some centres and saw first-hand how JAMB was digitally monitoring the examinations nationwide from its control room in real time, amongst other great innovations at the JAMB headquarters.
Addressing newsmen after the monitoring exercise, the minister, who was satisfied with the successes recorded by JAMB, said the use of Computer Based Test (CBT) as adopted by the Board, has helped in addressing the issue of examination malpractice.
He said: “I went to several CBT centres and the team at JAMB also took me around their digital operation from their control room to how exams are being monitored all over the country.
I must tell you I am extremely impressed. “The way JAMB is conducting its annual exam meets all international benchmarks. It’s an exam that is based on full proof for people to cheat.
So this is an exam that is done, monitored, coordinated with the highest level of integrity and I’m happy that we’re able to do this in Nigeria.
“We have a good country and with the precedent that we have now, for example, that puts so much emphasis on human capital development.
When I say human capital development in areas of education, health, and social protection, our President is working hard to fix all facets of the economy.”
Impressed by JAMB’s ability to control and contain examination malpractice using the CBT model, he said: “We’re going to get WAEC and NECO by November of this year to also start their objective exam on CBT.
“By the 2026 exams which will come up in May/June, both the objectives and the essay will be fully on CBT. That is how we can eliminate exam malpractices.
We want our children to study and not go ahead and perfect ways of cheating. “When some students cheat during the exams, it disincentivizes the hardworking one.
If you’re working hard for an exam and you see that people are getting leaked questions, you will also be bad and that’s what we want to eliminate completely.”
