The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is under increasing scrutiny following the release of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for school candidates.
School administrators and education advocates have raised serious concerns over alleged grading anomalies and technical issues linked to the expanded rollout of Computer-Based Testing (CBT).
Multiple school heads have reported cases where high-performing students received unexpectedly low grades, despite strong academic records and success in other standardized assessments. Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, Sam Abdulazeez, Director of Impact House Model Schools in Mowe, Ogun State, described a noticeable decline in his students’ WASSCE results in 2025 and 2026—even as the school retained its teaching staff, upgraded its facilities, and intensified exam preparations.
Abdulazeez noted that since 2017, his school has produced consistently excellent results, particularly in Mathematics and English Language. In 2024, all 45 candidates presented by the school for Mathematics scored an A1. However, he said, “the situation changed in subsequent years following the introduction of serialisation and CBT.”
“This year, out of the 69 children we presented for JAMB, over 30 scored above 300. And you know JAMB is fully CBT,” Abdulazeez said, emphasizing that none of his students scored below 200 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), thanks to rigorous preparation that included 22 mock-UTME exams with computer-based simulations.
Despite these efforts, the school recorded only three or four A1 grades in Mathematics in the 2026 WASSCE, compared to a near-perfect record in previous years. “We had children who scored up to 98 in Mathematics during UTME, but only three or four managed an A1 in WASSCE out of 69 students. Usually, almost everyone gets an A1 in Maths,” he lamented.
A similar trend was observed in English Language: “We only had Bs and a few Cs. Out of 69, just three credits; all others are B2 or B3,” Abdulazeez said. He stressed that the school maintains a highly qualified teaching staff—never hiring anyone without at least a second-class upper degree—and had invested heavily in infrastructure to prepare for computer-based exams.
Technical problems also marred preparations. According to Abdulazeez, a WAEC-run mock examination before the main test was plagued by connectivity failures: “On the first day, the systems could not connect to their server. The second day was no better.” After raising concerns with WAEC officials, the school was ultimately permitted to conduct a paper-based exam, despite being listed for CBT.
Abdulazeez said similar issues affected the school’s 2025 WASSCE results, with students seeing unexpected grade drops. “Some who expected A1s got Bs; those expecting Bs got Cs,” he reported. He also noted that grades on the result portal appeared to change after release: “Last year, after publishing results, I received calls saying grades had changed. Indeed, Bs became A1s, and Cs became Bs.”
This experience led him to delay sharing the 2026 results, hoping for similar corrections—but none came. He also highlighted concerns about serialisation—the use of multiple versions of exam papers—citing stronger student performances in subjects without serialisation.
Abdulazeez joined other stakeholders in calling for an independent review of the 2026 WASSCE results. “If schools and examining bodies can’t conduct exams properly, children’s futures shouldn’t suffer,” he argued, rejecting claims that poor performance stemmed from student unpreparedness for CBT: “JAMB has used CBT for years. When effort doesn’t match results, it’s cause for concern.”
Another school administrator, who requested anonymity, reported that students with high UTME scores and successful General Certificate Examination results received D7, E8, and F9 grades in core WASSCE subjects. Two students who had already secured admission to the University of Ibadan were recorded as failing Mathematics and English Language in the new WAEC results.
Educationist Fola Adekeye urged WAEC to uphold the integrity of its examination process, warning that delayed responses to complaints could erode public confidence. “Exams are destiny issues. Those managing those checkpoints should do better,” he said, referencing the controversy surrounding the 2025 UTME results. Adekeye confirmed that some top-performing students in his school had unexpectedly low WAEC results, but cautioned against making unsubstantiated allegations: “I always plead that exam bodies ensure their processes pass the test of integrity.”
He called on WAEC to upgrade outdated facilities and communicate any changes to curriculum or assessment methods clearly, so that students and stakeholders can prepare accordingly.
Meanwhile, the Initiative for School Excellence and Education Foundation (ISEE), through its solicitors, Zuriel Law Practice, has threatened legal action against WAEC over alleged irregularities in the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE. The group said it had received complaints from candidates about discrepancies in the recording and processing of responses. The lawyers demanded the immediate preservation of original electronic records—including candidate responses, audit trails, server logs, and scoring data—and disclosure of the technical standards and procedures governing the 2026 CBE. They also called for an independent audit and a mechanism for affected candidates to inspect their records.
WAEC was given 14 days to confirm preservation of records and establish review procedures, with the lawyers warning of court action if WAEC failed to engage.
ISEE founder Alex Onyia called for greater transparency, particularly amid allegations of question leakage at some paper-based exam centers. He questioned whether candidates tested under different conditions were graded as a single population, and urged WAEC to disclose raw score distributions and grade thresholds, as well as details of its standardisation process. “Show us the data,” Onyia demanded, emphasizing the need for clear review mechanisms for contested results and investigations into WAEC’s internal management.
Onyia stressed, “This is not an attack on WAEC. It is a demand for accountability,” and called on the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Assembly to summon WAEC leaders to explain the 2026 results methodology.
In response, WAEC defended the integrity of the 2026 WASSCE results. The council’s Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, stated that the results were produced through rigorous, quality-assured processes in line with established standards and educational policies, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education. WAEC urged the public to disregard unverified claims, explaining that every candidate’s script passed through a multi-tiered marking, moderation, and auditing process supervised by subject experts.
WAEC advised concerned candidates and stakeholders to contact the council directly through its official channels, rather than relying on social media speculation.
Nigerian examination bodies have faced similar scrutiny in recent years. In 2025, the former JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, publicly apologized for errors in that year’s UTME, acknowledging “one or two errors” during the exam.
