Alausa made the revelation on Thursday at a meeting with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools and other stakeholders in the education sector, where he warned parents, teachers, proprietors, principals, invigilators and students against practices capable of undermining the integrity of public examinations.
The minister said examination malpractice had, for years, been tolerated in Nigeria, creating an unfair system in which students who prepared genuinely for examinations were disadvantaged by those who gained access to leaked questions.
According to him, the situation was particularly dangerous because it could push honest students into malpractice as they sought to compete with candidates who had access to examination materials before the tests.
Alausa said, “It’s sad. Before she (Minister of State for Education) 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,” adding that the “danger was that the good students would also become bad.”
The minister, while recounting his experience in the fight against examination malpractice, alleged that examination questions had previously been made available for sale before candidates sat for the examinations.
He said, “The Registrar of NECO at the time had a name. His name was (Ibrahim) Wushishi. You would go to Wushishi… I didn’t know that Wushishi meant going to the dark website.
“They bought his question for N3,000. That was it. Before the examination. They called him Wushishi and bought the questions for N3,000 before the examination.”
Alausa also recalled his experience during the 2025 examination period, saying he was regularly sent examination questions allegedly obtained before candidates sat for the papers.
He said the development forced officials to verify the questions with examination authorities, sometimes confirming that the questions being circulated were actually the ones scheduled for the day.
He said, “During that examination period, during the hardest time of my life, I was always worried, waking up. I would wake up to her text. She would send questions to me… She would say, ‘I just got this question.’
“It could be English or Chemistry. I was always waking up with trepidation every morning, doing work. I would send it to the HNO and ask, ‘HNO, is this correct?’ And the answer I got was, ‘Unfortunately, that’s the question we’re doing today.’
“So, that was a more aggressive intervention because we were seeing the question and confirming from the other side.”
The minister said the revelations demonstrated that examination malpractice was not simply a student problem, insisting that the wider education ecosystem must take responsibility for curbing the practice.
He noted that parents, schools, teachers, invigilators and principals all had roles to play in preventing candidates from gaining unfair access to examination materials.
Alausa said, “You might be in that isolated school, but the school system is also involved. In fact, I don’t blame the students that much. Any child can be bad.
“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 warned that the Federal Government would strengthen measures to protect the integrity of public examinations and ensure that academic qualifications reflected genuine learning and merit.
The minister said the reforms were part of President Bola Tinubu’s broader efforts to restore standards and reposition Nigeria’s education system.
He said, “This is a country with the rule of law. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is transforming this country in a way that’s never been transformed before. This is Nigeria’s renaissance that we’re building to be sustainable into the future.”
He added that the country had for too long tolerated practices that undermined its education system, but said the Tinubu administration was determined to reverse the trend.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, also called on private school proprietors and other stakeholders to support the reforms, noting that stronger examination controls could initially expose weaknesses in students’ actual preparation.
Ahmad explained that some students who appeared to perform exceptionally well in internal examinations might have become accustomed to accessing leaked questions ahead of external examinations.
She said the introduction of serialised examination questions would make it more difficult for candidates to rely on leaked materials, while encouraging genuine preparation.
The minister urged schools to complete their curricula on schedule and promote consistent study among students, assuring private education stakeholders that the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to engage them during the implementation of the reforms.
The latest warning comes amid longstanding concerns over examination malpractice in Nigeria, including question-paper leakages, impersonation, collusion and unauthorised assistance to candidates.
The Federal Government’s renewed emphasis on examination integrity is aimed at ensuring that results from public examinations provide a credible assessment of students’ knowledge and abilities, while protecting candidates who prepare and compete fairly. Punch
