…candidates paid N2000, N3000 to get answers from Internet
* How officials, invigilators, parents help students cheat in WASSCE
SAM EFERARO ASSISTANT EDITOR The mass failure of candidates who wrote the April 27 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, has been traced to the widespread cheating recorded in many centres across the country, National Mirror can authoritatively reveal. The result of the examination released last Friday at a news conference in Abuja by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojediran, showed that only 10 candidates scored above 300 while only 127,017 candidates scored between one and 159.
He also said that no fewer than 12,110 results were withheld while 68,309 candidates from various centres were still undergoing further screening to ascertain their culpability in the massive cheating saga.
National Mirror had reported last Tuesday that this year’s UTME was characterised by large scale cheating by candidates, who were assisted by teachers, JAMB invigilators and even parents.
Investigation by our reporters revealed that as early as 6:30a.m., some candidates were seen copying answers from their phones into pieces of paper, which they tucked in different parts of their bodies.
We can further reveal that the supposed JAMB answers copied by the candidates emanated from internet fraudsters who claimed to have hacked the exam body’s computer systems.
A candidate cross checking copied answers from his cell phone.
Their websites include “jambanswer.com,”, “gistmania,” “examsucez,” “princejess,” among several others.
Candidates paid fees ranging from N2,000 to N3,500 to designated accounts opened by the fraudsters after which the supposed answers were sent to their phones.
One of the websites, “jambanswer.com” appears to be the most organised offering advice and payment details to candidates.
Others simply asked candidates to send recharge card numbers to some phone numbers to have the answers sent to their phones on the exam day.
In an advertorial on its website, “jambanswer.com” claimed it had successfully provided answers to candidates in previous years and boasted that the least score in 2012 was 230.
“Success in JAMB examination doesn’t only depend on how intelligent you are, but also on how smart you are.
“In this year’s JAMB, we guarantee a minimum of 250 JAMB score, provided you write all the answers we’ll send on that day. In case you don’t know how it works, it is very simple: we send answers on the day of the examination (this is to confirm the authenticity of what we’ll be sending to our candidates).
“All you need do is to make sure you take your phone into the exam hall (never submit your phone, no matter the amount of threats you get on the day by the security men). “Another instruction: Make sure you choose the paper and pen test (PPT), we can only assist you there,” the scammer wrote.
A chief examiner addressing candidates before the exam.
Candidates were advised to pay N2,000 to the account number 3038008633 in one of the leading banks. The account name was given as Ezikpe Ifeanyi Kalu. Candidates were also instructed to send their teller number, JAMB subjects and phone number to 07036178349.
National Mirror has confirmed the authenticity of this Lagos-based bank account.
A source at JAMB who did not want his name mentioned, however, told our correspondent that the body was aware of the fictitious answers circulating in many parts of the country.
Disgusted that many candidates relied on the fictitious answers instead of using their brains, the source said that while this year’s results were slightly better than those of 2012, the large number of failure this year was not unconnected with the fake answers distributed by the scammers.
“Even my own younger sister in the village, for whom I engaged a teacher, bought the fake answers and chose to use them instead of relying on what she had read.
“Of course, she failed. It is unfortunate that many of the candidates relied so much on the fake answers,” the source said.
The JAMB official also disclosed that he and his colleagues were aware of a centre in Abuja where there was large scale cheating by candidates who relied on the fake JAMB answers.
He described the failure rate recorded at the centre as “colossal”. The JAMB official, however, said that none of its question papers for the 2013 UTME questions leaked to the public as speculated.
“Of course, it is possible, though very rare, that a few corrupt invigilators might have connived with the criminals, quickly work out answers in the early minutes of the exam and begin to circulate, this is however very rare. I can tell you that at least 99.9 per cent of the purported answers did not originate from JAMB.
“The circulation of fake answers by scammers is a sad development but I can tell you, this will be easily eliminated through the Computer Based Test, CBT.
Obviously this is what we need now to forestall incidents of cheating and internet fraud,” the JAMB official said.
In a related development, officials of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, invigilators and private schools have been implicated in cases of cheating in some centres at the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination in the country.
Investigations by our correspondents have revealed that the officials are being lured with juicy offers by teachers and school principals to collude with invigilators in order to “assist” students, especially in compulsory subjects such as Mathematics, English Language and Biology.
It was also discovered that the practice is more rampant in private schools, many of which are desperate to get more students with claims of 100 per cent pass rate in the senior secondary school certificate examinations. Some invigilators who spoke to National Mirror confessed to have received various sums of money either to directly assist or to look away as students indulge in different malpractices during the exams.
“Once you enter a school, you will be approached by a senior teacher, vice- principal or principal and they will plead with you to assist their students.
“You name your price and both sides will agree on something. As an invigilator you either take part in dictating answers or you just look away as the teachers help the students.
“The principal or representative of the school will simply arrange with WAEC officials to give them the question paper before the beginning of the exam. This is taken to a class or office for a teacher to work out answers which is then circulated to the students during the exam,” one of the invigilators said.
National Mirror investigations also revealed that the supervisors and monitors who make unscheduled visits to schools are deeply involved in the cheating scam.
The schools make “solid arrangements” through bribery and they walk away with reports that everything was going on well at the schools or centres.
“They all have their price,” an invigilator who was dubbed as being too strict by a school told National Mirror.
The invigilator said a WAEC official, pleaded with her to “take it easy” with the students.
She told our correspondent: “As a mother, I made up my mind not to be involved when the principal asked for ‘assistance.’
“He, however, reported me to the monitor that came from Alausa and to my surprise the monitor asked me to take it easy with the students.
“He actually asked me to take the money being offered by the principal and confessed that he had collected his own. You look stupid for not getting involved,” she added.
National Mirror also spoke to a teacher who has vowed never to invigilate in any exam conducted by WAEC.
She said that a school ignored her warnings and insisted on aiding the students during the 2012 SSCE.
“I submitted my report to the WAEC custodian in the area but was shocked a few hours later when I was confronted by hefty students as I approached my home, dangling my report and warning me not to try that the following day if I wanted to be alive.
“I never showed up at the centre and that was the last time I participated in their exam.”
It will be recalled that the Nigerian Examinations Committee, NEC, of the council only two weeks ago announced the withdrawal of 113 secondary schools across the nation from the conduct of its examinations because of their involvement in examination malpractices.
The committee also recommended sanctions for 97 supervisors and principals while it blacklisted 21 others.
The examination body has also alerted the public about “rogue websites” claiming access to its question papers and warned the general public, “particularly candidates in the ongoing May/June 2013 WASSCE and their parents and guardians to be wary of these scams whether via the Internet or elsewhere.”
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