UNILAG Denies Technical Glitch in 2025/2026 Post-UTME Malpractice Notifications

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has refuted claims circulating on social media that notifications of examination malpractice sent to candidates during its recently concluded 2025/2026 Post-UTME screening exercise were the result of a technical glitch.

In a statement signed by Adejoke R. Alaga-Ibraheem, Head of the Communication Unit, UNILAG stressed that flagged cases were based on clear violations of examination guidelines detected through multiple monitoring mechanisms, including secure video surveillance.

“The University categorically affirms that the notification of examination malpractice earlier issued in respect of the screening exercise was not the result of a system or technical glitch,” the statement read.

The university clarified that, while it would not release uncensored video recordings of flagged candidates due to data protection laws, it may publish anonymised screenshots to illustrate the types of violations under review.

Growing Tensions

From September 1–4, 2025, UNILAG conducted its online Post-UTME screening for about 20,464 candidates. Following the exercise, several candidates were flagged for malpractice, sparking backlash and allegations of system failures.

The controversy gained momentum after Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare, threatened legal action against both UNILAG and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). Onyia claimed both universities used the same vendor, Web Test, whose platform allegedly contained major bugs that wrongly flagged students for malpractice and assigned suspiciously low scores.

Onyia revealed he had received over 750 reports from affected students, including a tragic case of a young girl named Bridget, who reportedly took her life due to distress linked to OAU’s screening outcome.

“How can someone who scored 360 in JAMB be scoring 20 in Post-UTME?” Onyia questioned, while offering to conduct an independent audit of the screening systems free of charge.

Broader Context

The dispute comes amid widespread concerns about Nigeria’s computer-based examination systems:

• Earlier in 2025, JAMB reported technical issues that disrupted the UTME for nearly 380,000 candidates across Lagos and the South-East.
• WAEC temporarily suspended its result-checker portal in August after discovering bugs affecting key subjects.
• NECO also shut down its systems nationwide for maintenance after unplanned outages.

These repeated disruptions highlight the fragile state of digital examination infrastructure in Nigeria, raising questions about vendor accountability, system integrity, and the psychological toll on candidates.

Next Steps

UNILAG urged candidates to ignore information from unauthorized channels and rely solely on official communications from the university. Meanwhile, stakeholders continue to press for independent investigations and reforms to restore trust in computer-based assessments.