Gone are the days when students walked into the examination halls with pages of textbooks or folded “chukuli” papers hidden under their sleeves. Today, cheating has gone digital – it is smarter, faster, and almost invisible. Across universities and secondary schools in Nigeria, students are now turning to AI apps, UV pens, smartwatches, and Bluetooth earpieces to outsmart invigilators.
A graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said his Apple Watch became his “best friend” during examinations. With the help of an AI app called Genie, he simply wrote questions on the watch’s screen and got instant answers. “Once I started using AI, I did not need to cram anything again,” he said. Others shared how they used basic phones to send themselves SMS summaries or wrote answers with invisible UV ink on their desks.
At Benue State University, a female student hid a Bluetooth earbud in her hair, connecting it to her phone outside the hall. She whispered questions and received answers through Google Assistant. “I used my hair to hide it, and nobody suspected anything,” she said.
Education experts say this trend shows how technology has outpaced school regulations. A lecturer at UNN, who spoke anonymously, admitted, “We are always playing catch-up. Students now combine old-school cheating tricks with modern tech.” He also revealed that some lecturers look the other way — or even take bribes to help students cheat.
However, not everyone joins the bandwagon. “I cannot risk being expelled or disgracing my parents,” said Elijah Okoh, a student at BSU. Others, like Sunday, a student of Industrial Technology, confessed that even with phones, cheating does not always work. “I tried it once, and I still failed,” he said.
The Examination Malpractice Act of 1999 provides stiff penalties — up to three years imprisonment or ₦100,000 fine — but enforcement remains weak. Many schools lack the tools to detect high-tech cheating.
While government reforms, such as computer-based testing, CCTV surveillance, and biometric verification, are in progress, experts warn that the real solution lies in rebuilding trust and fairness within the education system. As one lecturer put it, “If students believe the system rewards effort, they will not feel the need to ‘run it with tech.'”
