Twenty suspects have been arrested in connection with the alleged hacking of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The suspects were apprehended in Abuja by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force. They are believed to be part of a syndicate comprising over 100 individuals who specialise in breaching the computer servers of examination bodies such as JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO).

Security sources said the suspects confessed to sabotaging the Computer-Based Test (CBT) system to discredit JAMB and discourage the adoption of CBT for future examinations by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

The cyberattack allegedly enabled the suspects to manipulate results in favour of ‘special candidates’ who paid between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million for inflated scores.

Investigations also revealed that several members of the syndicate own private schools and operate lucrative “special centres” known for exam malpractice.

The arrests come two weeks after JAMB released the 2025 UTME results. Data from the board showed that over 78 per cent of candidates scored below 200 out of the maximum 400 points.

On 14 May, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates from 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East were affected by technical issues. He cited faulty server updates—caused by one of JAMB’s technical service providers—as the reason candidates’ responses failed to upload during the exam’s first three days.

The board has since conducted a resit examination, which began on 16 May and is scheduled to continue beyond 19 May.