ABUJA, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has arrested two candidates and one parent for using Artificial Intelligence to produce fake results from the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The arrests came on the same day the Board released scores for 632,788 candidates who sat the exam on Thursday, April 16, 2026.
Okay News reports that JAMB spokesman Fabian Benjamin announced the result release on Friday and confirmed that enforcement action had been taken against individuals who manipulated official SMS result notifications using AI tools. The Board stated that “falsification using AI and other electronic means” would attract criminal prosecution.
The candidates involved had altered or recreated official result messages to reflect higher scores than they obtained, in some cases to deceive family members who had funded their examination preparations. A parent was arrested alongside the two candidates.
Candidates can check their results by sending “UTMERESULT” via SMS to 55019 or 66019, using the same SIM card registered at the point of application. Result printing is not yet available.
JAMB said it will pursue all confirmed cases of result falsification through the appropriate legal channels. The 2026 UTME is still ongoing, with results being released in batches as examination sessions across the country are concluded.
