The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has raised fresh concern over the scale of examination malpractice in Nigeria, revealing that leaked National Examinations Council, NECO, questions were allegedly sold for as little as ₦3,000 before candidates sat for the examinations.

Alausa made the disclosure on Thursday during a meeting with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, and other education stakeholders, where he warned that widespread examination malpractice had become deeply entrenched and was undermining the credibility of public examinations.

The minister said the problem had grown beyond isolated cases involving students, arguing that parents, school proprietors, teachers, principals and invigilators had, in some instances, become part of what he described as an ecosystem of malpractice.

“It’s sad. Before she and I came, the acceptance of examination malpractice, cheating and examination leakages in this country was mind-boggling, and the country accepted it. It was a nightmare,” Alausa said.

He warned that the consequences went beyond compromised examination results, saying honest students could be forced into cheating simply to compete with candidates who had obtained leaked materials before examinations.

Alausa recalled an incident in which examination questions were allegedly obtained and sold before the scheduled paper for just ₦3,000.

“They bought his question for ₦3,000. That was it. Before the examination. They called him Wushishi and bought the questions for ₦3,000 before the examination,” he said.

The minister also recounted his experience during the 2025 examination season, saying leaked questions were repeatedly sent to him before scheduled papers.

According to him, officials were sometimes compelled to cross-check the materials with examination authorities, only to discover that some of the leaked questions were indeed the papers scheduled to be written that day.

Alausa said the experience demonstrated that examination malpractice could no longer be treated simply as misconduct by students.

“But when we have an ecosystem where parents, schools, teachers, invigilators and principals are in full connivance, the students are the smallest players. The people who should put the deterrents in place are the ones involved,” he said.

He maintained that the scale of the problem had created an unfair system in which students who genuinely studied and prepared for examinations were placed at a disadvantage compared with those who had access to leaked papers.

The minister therefore urged parents, teachers, school owners, principals and examination officials to stop practices capable of compromising the integrity of examinations and damaging public confidence in certificates issued by examination bodies.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Said Ahmad, urged private school proprietors to support the Federal Government’s ongoing reforms aimed at curbing examination malpractice.

Ahmad said one of the measures being introduced was the serialisation of examination questions, which would make it more difficult for candidates to depend on leaked materials.

She acknowledged that stronger controls could initially expose weaknesses in the actual academic preparation of students, particularly among those who had become accustomed to accessing examination questions before the scheduled time.

The minister urged schools to ensure that their curricula were completed on schedule and advised students to cultivate consistent study habits rather than depend on examination leakages.

She also assured education stakeholders that the ministry would continue to consult and engage with them as the reforms were implemented.

The government’s position is that restoring credibility to public examinations will require action across the entire education chain, rather than focusing exclusively on candidates, because those entrusted with preventing malpractice can themselves become part of the problem.

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