Like Jamb, Waec, Neco CBT Exam to take off in 2026 – Minister

The Minister of Public Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, praised the joint enrollment committee of the admissions (Jamb) on the successes recorded with the use of the test based on computers (CBT) in the examination of unified tertiary registration examination (UTME).

He therefore said that the advice of the West African examination (Waec) and the National Examiner Council (NEACH) will also be CBT from November 2025.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja, while they monitor Utme in Bwari, Alausa said that the CBT exams will discourage the negligence of the exams, saying that it has set up a committee to formulate recommendations for quality exams in Nigeria.

He said: “I just went around with the Chancellor of the joint enrollment committee to monitor the examination of the 2025-2026 academic session. I went to several CBT centers and the Jamb team also led me to their digital operation from their control room. Proof that people can cheat.

“So this is an exam made, monitored, coordinated with the highest level of integrity and I am happy to be able to do it in Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu puts so much emphasis on the development of human capital as areas of education, health and social protection. Even the president is working in all international aspects.

“In addition, we will get Waec and Necho by November this year to also start their objective examination on the CBT. The exams of 2026, which will arrive in May/June, both the objectives that the essay will be fully on CBT. This is how we can eliminate the negligence of the exams. We want our children to study and not go on to perfect ways of cheating.

“When some students cheat during the exams, disincentivize those who work hard. If you are working hard for an exam and see people who will leak questions, you will not be happy. You will also be bad and that’s what we want to eliminate completely. I have created a committee, led by Professor Oloyede, for monitoring the quality of the exam. You will have the result of that committee for the end of the next month.

“They have been taxed to decipher the examination process that includes all the exams that we do at all levels of our school and present expansive recommendations on how we can maintain the highest quality of the exams that satisfy any standard, compared to any part of the world. I am confident. I am awaiting these relationships. I have commissioned the advice of the examination of West Africa (WaEC) and the National Exam Council (NECO) to start the computer from November.

“We are factual here. About Jamb, I just went to their control room and I can give numbers in real time. Jamb conducts exams for about 2.2 million people throughout the country. It is 100% of CBT. The annual number of people writing Waec are about 1.8 million people and also for the neco. So if Jamb can lead an exam based on 2 million people, I don’t see the reason for which I can not the same thing on the contrary.

Even speaking, Jamb’s chancellor, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, said that the candidates are generally invited to come by 6:30 in the morning to be verified in time, adding that over 1,600,000 candidates participated in the exam starting from Monday morning.

He said: “This is one of our best exams so far, for which we are grateful to God. You can also see that some people are doing a case without case. We have always started our exams at 8 am. The first session is 8 in point, the second session 10.30, the third 1pm session and the fourth session at 15.30.

“But every reasonable person will know that these children are young and you have to let them know that they do not arrive at 8 in the morning. They have some preliminary things to do. We have to check all of them that we are inviting. We have to check their documents.

“So, we expect they do it for about 45 minutes. If we now ask these children to get to the center by 6:30 in the morning, I don’t know if someone can say that Oh, my son has arrived at 7.30 and they postponed him. But should we tell them to get to 7.30? How many of them will miss the exam?

“We have this mentality of the crowd. When you have people who have no job, they will launch something to people and people will discuss without even finding out. We start our exam just like every day of work at 8 in the morning even in their school, they start at school at 8, so what is bad in repairing our exam for 8 and asking children to get to 6:30 in the morning, so that it can be able to screen it 250?

“I had a disinformed person to say that we send people to centers other than what they have chosen. We launched the challenge, bring one of these people, only a person and we will give you a lot of money. You can never find it unreasonable to publish a person where he or she has not chosen. They must have indicated where they want, but some of these children decide their parents.

“We had many cases of someone who chooses Sokoto and told his father who chooses Lagos. When you ask, the boy will say that I want to go to Sokoto because I want to meet Sokoto. I am from Sokoto or something of that nature. If you are not you, you are not you. You cannot entrust your ATM card, but when the child now tells you some manufacturer, you believe.

“There was a case that a very big man faced us yesterday that someone applied for Katsina and we published it at Fedo, instead of the city of Katsina. We said the tests, where are the tests? When he brought the tests I was taking offstream. Center, where in Katsina and the thing is both daring Formtua Cbt Center.

“Out of 2,031,000 candidates, we covered over 1,600,000 plus.

“We arrested more than 40 people by imitation and some are very funny. Some have also gone to our examination room with the camera to take the screen and send it. They don’t know that our exam is not that type of exam. At least 40 people are in custody and we will see that we will return.