The federal government has directed the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to adopt full computer-based testing (CBT) for all their examinations by 2026.

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Monday while monitoring the ongoing exams alongside JAMB officials in Bwari. More than two million candidates have registered for the ongoing UTME examination in over 800 centres nationwide.

Mr Alausa revealed that WAEC and NECO would start administering their objective papers via CBT, effective this November.

He said, “Subsequently, adopting the CBT for the essay and objective components would commence fully by May/June 2026.

”If JAMB can successfully conduct CBT exams for more than 2.2 million candidates, WAEC and NECO can do the same.

“We are going to get WAEC and NECO to also start their objective exam on CBT.

“By 2026, exams, which will come up in May/June, both the objectives and the essay will be fully on CBT. That is how we can eliminate exam malpractices.”

Mr Alausa also disclosed that a committee is currently reviewing examination standards nationwide, with recommendations expected next month.

Earlier, the JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, while speaking on the early schedule of the exams, clarified that the board’s UTME exams had always begun at 8:00 a.m.

Mr Oloyede said candidates were only expected to be on ground by 6:30 a.m. to enable them to get accredited before the exams.

“We have always started our exams at 8 o’clock. The first session is at 8 o’clock, the second at 10:30 a.m., the third at 1:00 p.m., and the fourth at 3:30 p.m.,” the registrar stated.

Mr Oloyede also debunked claims of candidates being posted to centres they did not choose, stating that investigations showed no such cases had happened.

He confirmed that more than 1.6 million out of 2.03 million registered candidates had completed their exams, with about 50,000 remaining.

(NAN)