WAEC

By Lawal Dahiru Mamman,

While the nation, parents, and income earners are still debating the legitimacy of the Tax Laws rolled out by the Federal Government due to “alterations” in some sections and their broader implications, final-year senior secondary school students have other things to worry about. A case of different strokes for different folks.

A student called and, after exchanging pleasantries, he said, “Is it true we’re going to write WAEC exams with computers? We have a computer lab at our school, but it can accommodate only about 30 students at a time, and not everyone offers computer studies. Some people I know don’t even have any in their schools.” He is familiar with how computers work, but was looking out for others, and his concerns are legitimate.

The Senior Secondary School Certificate exam, conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), is held in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, and Nigeria. WAEC announced plans to shift from traditional paper-and-pencil tests to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for Nigeria’s 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), affecting about 2 million students across 23,554 schools.

The rollout begins with this year’s edition, tentatively scheduled from 24 April to 20 June 2026, with the aim of improving integrity, reducing malpractice and ensuring results are released 45 days after the exam, with digital certificates available within 90 days. 

WAEC’s Head in Nigeria, Amos Dangut, revealed that 1,973,253 students (979,228 males and 994,025 females) will participate, covering 74 subjects and 196 papers. According to him, the digital exams will feature unique question papers for each of the 1,973,253 students as part of efforts to uphold academic integrity.

To support students, the examination body says it has introduced digital learning tools, such as the WAEC E-Study Portal, the E-Learning Portal, and WAEC Konnect. These platforms offer past questions, marking schemes, and performance analysis. 

Despite these promising statements, the young student’s apprehension is not an isolated case. It is the silent and loud cry of thousands of students across Nigeria. While the shift toward digitalisation is a progressive move intended to curb examination malpractice and speed up the release of results, the infrastructure on the ground tells a different story. 

In many suburban and rural schools, the “digital revolution” feels like an ancient myth. It was only last year that Nigeria crossed the 50% broadband penetration mark, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020–2025.

We can also recall that, in May 2025, some students in Asaba, Delta State, took some of their exams using torchlights. The Minister of Education promised to “investigate” the situation, and Nigerians are still waiting for the outcome. But the substance of the matter is, can schools that lack the ability to purchase electric bulbs to light classrooms build rooms and stock them with computers before this year’s test commences?

Students in urban centres may not be affected; both at home and in school, they’re exposed to computers and the Internet. But introducing a computer-based exam to a student who has never used a mouse or sat in front of a steady power source creates an unfair playing field.

The House of Representatives learned of this development in early November and asked WAEC to halt it, citing concerns that it could lead to widespread failure and disadvantage students in rural areas with limited access to computers and the internet. Lawmakers suggest deferring it for at least three years to allow sufficient time for proper infrastructure and capacity building.

Interestingly, WAEC, through the Nigeria National Office Head, confirmed in the last week of the same month that “its plan to introduce a fully Computer-Based Test (CBT) system for the 2026 WASSCE for school candidates is firmly on track”, assuring the public that a key concern regarding travel has been addressed: “No candidate will have to travel more than 2km from their location to take the exam. This assurance is based on a new school mapping strategy.”

The transition to digital examinations cannot succeed through pronouncements alone. If the examination body insists, there must be clear communication to students through their schools and other stakeholders on a step-by-step strategy for this rollout, because students have registered and the examinations are underway.

Issues such as the delivery model must be addressed. Will the exam be fully digital across all subjects, or will it follow a hybrid model, with practical and essay-based subjects remaining on paper for now? Is it going to be JAMB-style? If essays are not retained, this well-intentioned effort could end up being a disaster for all parties involved.

What is the plan to equip public schools at 2km intervals with functional computer laboratories and consistent power solutions, such as solar energy? This must be considered carefully, as our reality shows that students across Nigeria study on bare floors and in other dilapidated conditions.

There must be a nationwide programme for “Mock CBT” exams to familiarise students in underserved areas with the software interface before the actual harvest of grades begins. In this case, even teachers in such areas must be trained to ensure adequate supervision.

In today’s world of artificial intelligence, big data, and other emerging technologies, digitalisation is inevitable, but it must be inclusive. If the goal is to improve the integrity of education, no student should be penalised for their geographical location or economic status.

Without adequate information, one may not be able to speak for The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, but here in Nigeria, WAEC and the Federal Government must speak clearly on how they want this to happen, because if the questions raised above cannot be answered with clarity, we should as well heed the advice of the lawmakers in the green chamber.

Lawal Dahiru Mamman writes from Abuja and can be reached at dahirulawal90@gmail.com.

By Anas Abbas

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria has announced the release of revised results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, following the identification of grading errors that impacted performance statistics.

During a press briefing held at WAEC’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Amos Dangut, the Head of WAEC Nigeria, expressed regret over the discrepancies, particularly in the marking of serialised papers.

Dr. Dangut revealed that a new security feature known as paper serialisation, which had been successfully implemented by another national examination body, led to errors in scoring the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3).

This was due to the use of an incorrect serialised code file during the marking process. Other affected subjects included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.

He clarified that candidates who took the exams via computer-based testing were not impacted by these issues.After correcting the errors, WAEC reported that 1,794,821 candidates 91.14% achieved credit or higher in at least five subjects, regardless of whether they included English and Mathematics.

Specifically, 1,239,884 candidates (62.96%) obtained five credits including both English and Mathematics, a significant increase from the previously reported figure of 38.32%. Among those who achieved this milestone, 53.05% were female and 46.95% were male.

Despite these improvements, there was still a decline in overall performance compared to the previous year, with a 9.16% drop from the 72.12% success rate recorded in 2024.

A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, including students from neighboring countries like Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea.

WAEC also highlighted its commitment to inclusivity by processing results for 12,178 special needs candidates.

“While 1,763,470 candidates (89.55%) had their results fully processed, 205,916 (10.45%) still had pending subjects due to technical issues. The council is actively working to finalize these outstanding results”.

Additionally, results for 191,053 candidates (9.7%) have been withheld due to allegations of examination malpractice, a reduction from the previous year’s rate of 11.92%.

Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates can seek redress through WAEC’s official complaints portal.

Dr. Dangut also explained that WAEC’s commitment to tackling examination malpractice and encouraged candidates to access their results via the official website.

He also noted that candidates sponsored by state governments with outstanding debts would not have access to their results until payments are made.

By Anwar Usman

The West African Examinations Council has announced the official release of the results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates.

This was revealed in a statement issued through X on Monday, August 4, 2025, the examination body confirmed that candidates who sat for the exam can now access their results online.

“The West African Examinations Council is pleased to inform candidates who sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025 that the result has officially been released today, Monday, August 4, 2025,” WAEC stated.

Candidates are advised to visit the Council’s result portal to check their performance.

“To access the result, log on to http://waecdirect.org,” the statement added.

Details later…

By Hadiza Abdulkadir

The Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police have arrested 20 suspects in Abuja for allegedly hacking into the servers of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examination Council (NECO) to manipulate UTME scores.

The suspects, part of a larger syndicate of over 100 members, reportedly charged candidates between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million to obtain inflated results. Many are said to operate private schools and special centres used for the fraud.

Sources indicate that the group aimed to discredit JAMB’s Computer-Based Testing (CBT) system and discourage its future use by other examination bodies, such as WAEC and NECO.

The arrests follow JAMB’s release of the 2025 UTME results, in which over 78% of candidates scored below 200 out of 400. 

Registrar Ishaq Oloyede earlier cited server faults affecting nearly 380,000 candidates, prompting a resit exam from May 16.

By Anwar Usman

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has directed both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to adopt conducting their objective tests via Computer-Based Testing (CBT) by November 2025.

He stated that by May/June 2026, both the objective and essay components of WAEC and NECO examinations are expected to be fully transitioned to CBT, in a bid to mitigate examination malpractice.

The Minister made this statement during an inspection of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) after visiting some of the centres in Abuja on Monday.

Dr. Alausa noted that if JAMB could successfully conduct CBT exams for over 2.2 million candidates nationwide, WAEC and NECO, with less number of applicants compared to JAMB should also be able to replicate the same feat without difficulty.

He further expressed optimism with the conduct of the ongoing UTME and applauded the high level of coordination, transparency, and integrity demonstrated by the Board, describing the examination process as meeting international standards and being almost foolproof against malpractice.

He said under the current administration, the rule of law is respected, allowing institutions like JAMB to operate independently and efficiently.

He cautioned candidates against engaging in examination misconducts, urging them to rely on hard work to achieve success.Earlier, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, gave a detailed account of the technical and operational framework behind the administration of the UTME.

Oloyede revealed that JAMB processed applications from over 2,040,538 candidates seeking admission into 1,452 tertiary institutions, supported by over 2,000 staff members and thousands of ad-hoc personnel managing CBT centres across the federation.

He said JAMB’s robust and secure processes have set a new benchmark for examinations in Nigeria and affirmed the Board’s commitment to sustaining and improving these standards.

By Sabiu Abdullahi 

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria has rolled out the results of its pioneering Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination for Private Candidates, 2024—First Series. 

This signifies a notable departure from conventional paper-based assessments towards a digitally-driven format.

As per a statement from the council, the groundbreaking CB-WASSCE utilised a blended approach, projecting questions onto computers while candidates submitted real-time answers for multiple-choice questions and provided responses in booklets for essays and practical components.

The examination spanned from January 31 to February 17, 2024. An analysis of the results revealed that out of the 8,139 candidates who participated, 3,424 individuals, constituting 42.07%, attained credit or above in a minimum of five subjects, irrespective of English language and mathematics inclusion. 

The statement read, “2,519 candidates representing 30.95 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. 

“The coordination of examiners and marking of candidates’ scripts were carried out at three marking venues in Lagos, Enugu and Kaduna from March 1 to 16, 2024. A total of 459 Examiners participated in the Coordination and Marking Exercise. 

“The entry figure of 8,362 candidates showed a 4.30 per cent decrease in candidature when compared with the 2023 entry figure of 8,738. 8,139 candidates sat the examination at 140 CBT centres spread across the country. 

“Amongst the candidates that sat the examination, 21 candidates, with varying degrees of Special Needs, were registered for the examination. Out of this number, nine were visually challenged, two had impaired hearing and two were Albinos. 

“All these candidates with special needs were adequately catered for in the administration of the examination.”

By Uzair Adam Imam

Hundreds of job seekers from different parts of Nigeria trooped into Kano State Thursday to jostle for the West African Examinations Council (WEAC) jobs.

The examination body was hiring assistant registrar, accountant, quantity surveyor, registered builder and network administrator, among other posts.

The job seekers sat for a computer-based aptitude test organized by the examination body at a CBT centre along Gwarzo Raod in Kano.

Unemployment is one of the lingering issues currently flogging the Nigerian graduates, making it a serious challenge, especially to the government.

A recent Bloomberg report shows that unemployment in Nigeria has surged to the second-highest on the global list, jumping to 33.3%.

Unemployment alarming

Musa Musa Dangwangwani, surprised by the number of applicants who trooped into the state to sit for the CBT, said the unemployment rate in the country is alarming.

Dangwangwani, an applicant from Katsina State, said, “Despite the high unemployment rate, job opportunities are very scarce. I’m therefore pleading with the government to provide job opportunities in the country.

Another applicant from Kogi State told our reporter that the issue of unemployment in Nigeria is seriously killing graduates, urging the government to do the needful to mitigate the problem.

‘The future is bleak’

“We have a lot of graduates out there that already lost hope. If you speak to them about any job opportunity, they will tell you they don’t want to apply for any because they are rigged out.

“One has to have a godfather before he secures a job now. But I have been trying my best. Wherever I heard of any opportunity, I apply, believing that one day I will succeed,” Dangwangwani said.

A female applicant from Kaduna State, who did not want her name in print, said the gathering was suggestive of the country’s high unemployment rate.

She said, “The way people gathered here tells me about the high rate of unemployment in the country. The government needs to do something to end this issue.

“Government should revive the number of factories shut down over the years. I think that will really help.

I lost my job due to insecurity – Applicant

An applicant from Bauchi State told The Daily Reality how he lost his job to the security challenge in Nigeria.

He said that was the reason he was now seeking another job.

He said, “I had my business. I’m a network engineer. My job was to provide internet service to the people mining in the bushes, but because of the current insecurity in the country, we can’t risk our lives; thus, I am jobless now.”

The Daily Reality recalls that professionals have argued that there is a need for urgent intervention to save the country from an impending danger posed by the exponential increase in unemployment.

By Ishaka Mohammed

Dear Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, we are aware that you have reached the pinnacle of your career as a Nigerian academic. That means you must have directly interacted with an overwhelming number of Nigerian students. We also know that you specialise in education. Therefore, you should know better than many of us the pros and cons of educational policies.

As the current registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), you think that the Federal Government of Nigeria should consider removing credit passes in English language and mathematics as criteria for admission to Nigeria’s higher institutions. This is further proof that you know Nigerian students and how difficult it is to pass these subjects in their Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).

Similar to your suggestion, the current registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, once advocated that a credit grade be removed as an admission criterion for the arts and humanities in polytechnics and colleges of education. I subscribe to his submission.

However, considering the status of the English language in the 21st century and the fact that it’s our official language, I think it’s costly to abolish a credit grade in the subject (English language) as a criterion for admission into our tertiary institutions.

It’s glaring that despite the presence of this criterion which forces many of us to learn the language, we’re far from attaining true proficiency.

Prof., if you seek a paragon of “nobody is perfect”, just pay attention to how we (Nigerians) use the English language, starting from this write-up. Even the highly educated are prone to uttering or writing wrong English expressions. Concerning this claim, many people argue that no one is above mistakes, but I say that mistakes aren’t the same as errors. When one’s use of a wrong expression results from one’s unawareness of the correct pattern, that’s an error.

Sir, I think a few examples will suffice. Many Nigerian graduates wish to further their studies abroad, specifically in the United States and the United Kingdom, but their proficiency level hinders them in the English language. Each of the two main internationally recognised English language proficiency tests is difficult for most Nigerians to pass. Those who have sat for the tests or accessed their past questions can attest to my claim. Even an excellent Nigerian graduate needs intensive coaching to pass the Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS).

Prof., if making English errors were a criminal offence, we would be in jail. But, of course, that’s if judges aren’t guilty as well.

Sir, it’s a known fact that exposure to news media content boosts one’s language proficiency. Although the reverse isn’t totally the case in our country, consumers of Nigerian media content had better be wary of heavily relying on their (the media’s) expressions. Other authorities, including dictionaries, should be consulted as frequently as possible.

Let me buttress the above point. Since 1961, the Nigerian Guild of Editors has been a network of experienced journalists who have attained editors’ positions in their respective organisations. Ordinarily, one would assume that every member of the network possesses an unquestionable mastery of the English language. But, no, this isn’t the case. Some of the past presidents of the guild have repeatedly published wrong English expressions not as mistakes but as errors. One of such expressions is “Buhari felicitates with”. I’m sure the president has media aides, two of whom have presided over the affairs of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in the past.

In a similar vein, many of the federal ministry of education documents aren’t free of English errors, neither are those from our schools.

The above instances speak volumes about our deficiency in our lingua franca. Being aware of this situation, isn’t it advisable that we adopt measures to encourage us to learn the English language? Will it then be wise to abolish existing measures? 

I believe in the saying that where there’s a will, there’s a way. Our determination to secure admission to tertiary institutions makes us learn English more than we would ordinarily do. The more we practise, the better we’re highly likely to become. Frequency and expertise have a significant relationship.

Therefore, Prof., let’s maintain a credit grade in English as a criterion for admission to our higher institutions.

Ishaka Mohammed writes from Kaduna. He can be reached via ishakamohammed39@gmail.com.