56 website operators arrested across the country as WAEC gets tough on exam fraud
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Up to 56 website operators are to be prosecuted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for leaking its examination questions to students.
WAEC Head of National Office, Nigeria (HNO) Patrick Areghan said West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) supervisors who get questions ahead of time were the conduits through which the papers were leaked.
He confirmed 15 people have been arrested over malpractices in the ongoing WASSCE which 1,621,895 candidates are writing in more than 21,000 secondary schools across Nigeria.
Areghan made the disclosures in Abuja while monitoring the examination in some Government Secondary Schools, with an assurance the website operators will be prosecuted by the police in due course.
He said dubious supervisors are responsible for some of the malpractices, stressing WAEC has no control over social media where people post questions and ask candidates to subscribe to their websites that give out fake questions.
“We have a regulation to release papers to supervisors one hour before commencement time to enable them to go from the collection point to the administrative point because of distance in some schools,” Areghan explained.
“But what they do is snap the question papers and send them to their syndicate groups. You now begin to ask questions about what they are trying to achieve with it.
“Candidates are already in the exam hall and you are posting the questions. Sometimes, they change the front of the questions and add 2023 for exam questions of 2020.
“Some gullible parents and students will go for it and destroy themselves because there is no way they can get our questions.”
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Tech detects exam malpractice
Areghan disclosed WAEC has installed technology that detects examination malpractice from any location, which has facilitated the arrest of 15 culprits, per reporting by Nairametrics.
“I am happy to announce that so far in this exam, we have made a lot of arrests. We made arrests in Ibadan, Maiduguri, Abeokuta, Osogbo, Umuahia, and many other states,” he said.
“In all, we have made arrests of no fewer than 15 persons comprising candidates, supervisors, school proprietors, and others connected with the malpractices.
“Supervisors are our problems, they make a lot of money from this. The exam is taking place in over 21,000 secondary schools in Nigeria with only 2,000 staff strength. How many centers are we going to man?
“These supervisors are teachers given to us by state Ministries of Education and when they come, they make it a business.
“We are not in control of social media, small boys post questions for advertisement and ask candidates to subscribe on their websites and then they give them fake questions.”
Areghan appealed to candidates, teachers, and parents to maintain the ethics of examination for a good and sound educational system, saying everyone must be on board to fight the menace.