Nigeria’s Education Sector Is In Trouble, Says JAMB Panel Chair Epelle

The chairman of the Special Committee on Examination Infractions set up by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Dr Jake Epelle, has said the Nigeria’s education sector was in trouble.

Epelle, who is also the head of TAF Foundation, said this when he appeared on Channels Television’s current affairs programme, ‘Politics Today’ on Monday night, where he spoke on the committee report submitted to JAMB earlier on Monday.

The committee, in its report, uncovered 4,251 cases of “finger blending” and 190 instances of AI-assisted impersonation through image morphing during investigations into the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The panel, inaugurated on August 18, 2025, was mandated to investigate the surge in exam infractions, assess JAMB’s systems, and propose reforms.

The committee chairman said, “The education sector is in trouble. What we saw is mind-blowing. The manipulations, the transactions, you will see young people with a lot of technology in their hands, manipulating the system, it’s amazing.

“One of the sessions I addressed the police investigating and I said, I want to see this person in jail because it’s not a question of investigating this and then letting people go scot-free. A lot of CBT centres are going to be shut down, their equipment taken from them, but also the owners ending up in jail.

“JAMB has one of the best technologies. I wonder if they don’t, it would have been worse. In terms of technological infrastructure, I have technology experts. I have somebody who headed Microsoft in Africa as part of my committee. The head of my investigation sub-committee is a cyber crime expert, Professor Tanko, the VC of UNIJOS. So, I have experts. We interrogated, we were allowed to look at everything JAMB is doing.”

He blamed the situation on the wrong application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), saying, “this is the age of AI and what is going on is that JAMB rolled out a state-of-the-art technology. There are people behind the scene and these are smart young Nigerians.

“I discovered a particular student in medical school, in the university. Every year, he goes to take JAMB. He does not take JAMB for himself. He takes JAMB for people and gets paid for it. So, the system is robust, but there is a consistent conspiracy to undermine the system.

“Remember, every technology has its own glitches. And so, especially in this country, and that’s why I am a proponent of adaptive technology. We need a technology that is adaptive within our environment, that speaks to issues that we are going through. I am visually impaired. I need a technology that I don’t have to bury my eyes in the system to be able to see what I’m reading. We need adaptive technology.

“And these technologies that JAMB has rolled out, there are places and times where human beings, as you are rolling out the technology, there are sleepless individuals who are finding ways and means of collecting that whole process for their own benefit.

“There are 192 instances of AI-assisted impersonation. So you would think that these 192 people are real people but they are AI assisted. They are AI assisted but projecting individuals who want to take their place and take the exam and get paid by the person that is not in the hall. Guess what? 80% of these infractions were caused by parents.

“Parents who want to give marks to their children that they don’t deserve. This is my call to JAMB. The time has come to name and shame because these same parents go on air and say all kinds of evil against JAMB, disgrace the system, and threaten to sue. Meanwhile, by the time they start interrogating, they start begging already. It has happened. We saw the cases,” Epelle said.

Speaking on the way forward, Epelle called for “detection, deployment of AI-powered biometrics, deterrence, cancellation of results of confirmed fraudulent candidates, prevention, strengthening mobile-first self-service platform. This one is very important.

“Legal reforms. Amend the JAMB Act and the Examination Malpractice Act to recognise biometrics and digital fraud and provide a legal unit within JAMB. Cultural orientation. There’s a need to launch an integrity-first campaign. Special measures for minors, you know, those under 18.”