Dr Adesina Aladeloba, Dean of the School of Environmental Studies, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), has introduced a N1 million award to encourage students to shun examination malpractice.
Aladeloba said the initiative, known as the War Against Examination Crime (WAEC) Award, rewards departments whose students complete an academic session without any recorded examination malpractice.
He explained that the award, which is different from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), held its maiden edition on June 24 after assessing students’ conduct over two semesters.
According to him, departments with no students reported to the School Examination Malpractice Investigation Committee (SEMIC) automatically qualify for the award.
“The idea is to prevent examination malpractice rather than focus only on punishment. If there are no cases, the committee will have little or no work to do,” he said.
Aladeloba said the Departments of Architecture and Transport Planning and Management emerged winners in the first edition, sharing the N1 million prize.
He noted that the prize money was presented to the students’ associations of the winning departments to encourage students to uphold integrity during examinations.
The dean described examination malpractice as a serious crime with far-reaching consequences, warning that professionals who obtain qualifications dishonestly could endanger lives in fields such as medicine, engineering and construction.
He called on government agencies to clamp down on operators of miracle centres and prosecute offenders, stressing that Nigeria must place greater value on competence, practical skills and innovation rather than paper qualifications.
Aladeloba commended the Federal Government’s renewed emphasis on skills acquisition and vocational education, adding that the initiative had already inspired healthy competition among students and could be adopted by other tertiary institutions to promote academic integrity.
