Abuja — In a determined resolve to confront the menace of examination malpractices, the Federal Ministry of education has submitted names of at least 5000 examination malpractice offenders to the Economic and Financial crimes commission (EFCC), for investigation and prosecution.

Minister of State for Education, Dr Sayyad Abba Ruma, disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja, while declaring open a workshop on examination malpractice sanctions harmonisation.

According to the Minister who was represented by a director in the ministry, Dr Jamilia Sharfa, the first of the 300 schools to be de-recognised as examination centres in Nigeria will soon be released.

He said all such schools would cease to serve as centres for any public examination including WAEC, NECO, JAMB, NABTED, and NTI examinations for a period of four years from 2006 to 2010.

Ruma also said an integrity manual for supervisors, invigilators, examiners and parents would soon be released. The manual, according to the Minister, will be mandatory for all those who will be involved in any public examination, adding that government is also reviewing the legislative framework for the eradication of examination malpractice as part of the reforms package in the education sector.

The Minister said the establishment of the Campus Safety and Examination Ethics Task Team was to drive the reforms towards eradication of campus cultism and examination malpractice, while government is also working to deploy ICT solutions in the conduct of examinations, to plug loopholes.

Head of the Examination Ethics team in the ministry of Education, Mr Ike Onyechere, whose body organised the workshop, also highlighted efforts made so far to check the menace and the hindrances they face.

Various examination bodies at the workshop including WEAC, NECO, JAMB among others, presented a situation.

Among the points raised by the bodies include lack of control of enforcement; treatment of offenders with kid glove; police complicity and poor record of prosecution of offenders, as well as slow judicial system.Jet