The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that parents are responsible for more than 80% of examination malpractice cases in Nigeria.
Jake Epelle, chairman of JAMB’s Special Committee on Examination Infractions, told Arise Television’s The Morning programme that parents play a significant role in fueling malpractice, which he said is damaging the country’s education system.
He criticised parents who publicly complain about the treatment of their children during examinations, only for investigations to reveal false claims. “Often, these same parents who take to social media to complain end up begging for forgiveness when the facts are established,” he said.
His comments followed JAMB’s investigation into the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The probe uncovered more than 4,200 cases of “finger blending”, 190 instances of AI-assisted impersonation through image morphing, and nearly 1,900 false declarations of albinism.
Epelle warned that unless urgent reforms are introduced, examination malpractice would continue to undermine merit and public trust. “Examination fraud uncovered by JAMB shows that Nigeria’s education sector is in trouble. If left unchecked, it will destroy the foundation of education and human capital development,” he said.
