Examination Malpractice and the Law: Legal Sanctions and Institutional Responses in Niger State

Examination malpractice continues to undermine academic integrity and educational outcomes across Nigerian secondary and tertiary institutions. Niger State, in the North Central geopolitical zone, has recorded persistent incidents of examination fraud, including impersonation, leakage of question papers, and collusion among examination officials. This research examines the legal sanctions and institutional responses to examination malpractice in Niger State, with specific reference to the Examination Malpractice Act of 1999 and the policies of the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council. A survey design was employed, administering structured questionnaires to 200 senior secondary school students and 50 teachers across three local government areas in Minna and Bida. Secondary sources include WAEC reports, academic studies on educational integrity, and media documentation of prosecutions from 2019 to 2024. The findings reveal that awareness of legal sanctions among students and school personnel is low, and prosecutions under the Examination Malpractice Act are exceedingly rare. The research identifies systemic pressures, including overcrowded classrooms, inadequate teacher pay, and commercial examination coaching, as structural drivers of malpractice. Recommendations include enhanced penalty awareness campaigns, mandatory ethics education curricula in secondary schools, and institutional incentive reforms to reduce examination-related pressure. This study provides an empirically grounded assessment of a critical educational governance challenge in North Central Nigeria. Keywords: examination malpractice, Examination Malpractice Act, Niger State, academic integrity, educational governance.