News Update
THE West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has come under fire following a technical failure that prevented candidates from accessing their 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, results, sparking nationwide protest and condemnation.
The Council announced on Thursday that it had suspended access to its result portal due to technical glitches discovered during a post-release quality check of the 2025 results.
In a statement issued by the Head of Public Affairs at WAEC National Office, Moyosola Adesina, the Council acknowledged faults in its backend systems, specifically linked to its recently introduced serialisation process for key subjects such as Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics.
“The Council, being a responsive body that is sensitive to fairness and professionalism, has decided to urgently review and correct the technical glitches that led to the situation,” the statement read.
“Access to the WASSCE SC 2025 results has been temporarily denied on the result checker portal.”
WAEC advised candidates who had previously checked their results to revisit the portal after 24 hours for the updated version.
The statement added that the glitches arose during implementation of “paper serialisation,” an anti-malpractice innovation adapted from another national examination body.
The controversy followed the Council’s earlier announcement that only 38.32 per cent of the 1,969,313 candidates obtained credit passes in five subjects including English and Mathematics—marking the lowest pass rate in a decade.
Stakeholders expressed disappointment, with students taking to social media and school premises in protest, while parents and teachers’ associations voiced concerns about WAEC’s competence and its planned transition to Computer-Based Testing, CBT.
Haruna Danjuma, National President of the National Association of Parent-Teacher Associations of Nigeria, NAPTAN, criticised the CBT initiative as premature.
“Right now, about 80 to 90 per cent of students, especially in rural areas, are not computer literate,” he said.
“Let governors start equipping schools now if WAEC and NECO plan to go CBT by 2026.”
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, called for sanctions against WAEC leadership, describing the situation as “unforgivable.”
“This is a clear sign that the leadership of WAEC has failed,” said NANS Assistant General Secretary, Adejuwon Olatunji.
“For an exam body responsible for millions of West African students, there’s no excuse for this level of incompetence.”
He accused WAEC of inflicting “psychological distress” on candidates, demanding resignations.
“The Council withheld over 192,000 results for alleged malpractice, yet it couldn’t even get its process right.”
On social media, users expressed scepticism over WAEC’s ability to resolve the issue within 24 hours.
“I’m curious about how they intend to justify the 24-hour ‘miracle’ of grade changes,” tweeted @SaintSeyiB.
Another user, @peculiarpat1, wrote: “Why the haste to release results if reviews weren’t done?”
The President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Audu Amba, urged WAEC to revisit its internal systems, noting that blame for student failure should not rest solely on teachers.
“Some schools don’t even have chairs for teachers to mark scripts,” he said.
“Do parents monitor their children’s education? Does the government fund education adequately?”
Despite the backlash, the Federal Ministry of Education announced on Thursday that the glitch had been resolved.
Director of Press, Folasade Boriowo, commended WAEC’s response and reiterated government support for future reforms, including the phased rollout of CBT from November 2026.
“The Ministry appreciates the patience of affected candidates and assures the public of its continued pursuit of fairness and credibility in assessment processes,” Boriowo stated.
She added that WAEC and NECO would begin CBT with objective sections only, aiming to prevent exam leakages and strengthen trust in the assessment system.
As of Friday, WAEC confirmed that updated results would be accessible to candidates via the result checker portal.