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Two students of the Gombe State University have been expelled for examination malpractice. Vice Chancellor of the University approved the immediate expulsion of the students for inviting two unknown persons to sit on their behalf, in English and Mathematics papers.

People in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have been found buying fake degrees of all sorts from diploma mills and other bogus universities. Those universities have no physical existence and operate only through websites. Most diploma mills are operating from Britain or United States where academic standards are presumed to be very high. Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigations compiled a list of over 10,000 persons who obtained fake degrees from diploma mills in USA. A significant number of them are from South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. Currently, there are about 80 notorious diploma mills that operate from the United States and the UK.

From 1995 to 2001, Nigerian degree mills produced annually about 15 percent of total university graduates in the country. In the past 9 years, a flurry of activity has been directed at eradicating the degree mills. In 1999, the National Council on Education (NUC) directed the closure of all local and foreign satellite campuses. It also partnered with the Department of State Services (Nigeria's secret service) in locating, arresting, and prosecuting operators of unapproved universities and satellite campuses. Finally, it directed approved universities to make full disclosure of their programs, which have been listed in the Directory of Approved Programmes in the Nigerian University System.

The State Security Service (SSS) in Gombe State has discovered that 131 of the 936 Universal Basic Education teachers recruited in the state recently presented fake NCE certificates for employment. A member of the syndicate has confessed that they printed and sold fake NCE certificates issued by the Federal College of Education.

The federal polytechnic has expelled 162 students for examination malpractice, cultism and poor academic performance, in the 2004-2005 session. The students were expelled for their involvement in examination misconduct during examinations.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, in conjunction with the National Universities Commission, NUC, is set to beam its searchlight on corrupt practices in the Nigerian universities over a chain of petitions received by the anti-graft commission. Abuses highlighted include admission processes, conduct of examinations, appointments and promotion of staff, and manipulation and falsification of academic records such as transcripts.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board or JAMB, the sole agency mandated to conduct entrance examinations for universities in Nigeria, has held its first computer-based tests for more than 1.4 million candidates at some 400 information and communications technology, or ICT, centres countrywide. “This system was thought out as the only way, for now, that can address the challenges of examination malpractices.”

Plagiarism is an issue of concern in institutions of learning across the world. There are several widely held ideas about plagiarism in Nigeria, but they have not been substantiated because of a lack of empirical findings. However, a recently completed doctoral research project on student plagiarism in Nigerian universities has thrown more light on the matter.

A number of students in a law school were caught cheating in exams; one student was found writing answers already copied in a smart watch. The student either programmed answer sheets or recorded course materials into the device. One practicing lawyer in Abuja said such attitude may have long-term effects on those involved; it had undermined the integrity and independence of the graduands and could possibly increase the likelihood of the abuse of the attorney-client privilege as well as create weak industry-wide anti-corruption standards.

In Nigeria, as in other places in the world, when people who do not appear to be qualified for certain positions make decisions in those offices, they generate uproar and outrage in their immediate communities. Thus, when the Accountant-turned-Columnist-turned-Minister for Education, recently announced that the Post-UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) exams, usually conducted by universities across Nigeria will be scrapped, Nigerians felt like they had been denied something crucial. In the same vein, the Minister also announced that the UTME exam cut-off mark has been reduced to 180 from 200, essentially cementing the reputation of the Nigerian educational sector as a farce.