LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s 2026 secondary school examination results are facing growing scrutiny after a senior official of the West African Examinations Council raised concerns about possible technical problems and irregularities, adding to complaints from schools, parents and education advocates over the accuracy of some grades. Olanrewaju Fadehan, head of examinations at the WAEC office covering Anambra State, said candidates who took the computer-based version of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, or WASSCE, appeared to have been particularly affected. “Obviously, there was a problem,” Fadehan said in a video circulated online. He called for the federal government and other stakeholders to investigate. WAEC has not confirmed his allegations, and its head of public affairs, Moyosola Adesina, responded to questions about the claims by saying, “No comment for now.”
The allegations follow complaints from some schools that students who performed strongly in school examinations and Nigeria’s university entrance test received unexpectedly low WASSCE grades. Sam Abdulazeez, director of Impact House Model Schools in Mowe, Ogun State, said his school experienced technical difficulties during a computer-based mock examination before the main test. Critics have also questioned whether WAEC’s use of serialisation, which changes the order or versions of questions to discourage cheating, may have contributed to discrepancies in Mathematics, English Language, Economics and Biology. There is no independent evidence so far showing that the complaints resulted from a widespread scoring or computer-system failure.
WAEC has defended the integrity of the 2026 examination, saying marking, moderation and auditing followed established quality-control procedures. The council has urged candidates, parents and schools to avoid treating unverified social media claims as established facts. About 1.95 million candidates sat the examination, with 1,200,514, or 61.54%, obtaining credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, a benchmark widely used for university admission. WAEC also withheld results belonging to 167,486 candidates, or 8.59%, over suspected examination malpractice. WAEC Nigeria chief Amos Dangut has cited organized cheating and prohibited mobile phone use among continuing threats to examination integrity.
Pressure has also come from the Initiative for School Excellence and Education Foundation, which threatened legal action and gave WAEC 14 days to respond to demands for greater transparency. The group wants WAEC to preserve electronic examination records, provide affected candidates access to relevant information and allow independent verification of its computer-based examination and result-processing systems. It said complaints had raised questions about the “accuracy, reliability and verifiability” of some results. The controversy comes as Nigeria expands computer-based testing in a school system where electricity, internet connectivity and access to computers remain uneven. Officials say digital examinations can improve efficiency and reduce malpractice, while critics warn that technical failures could disadvantage candidates.
The concerns are particularly sensitive because WAEC experienced a confirmed technical problem in 2025, when Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education said post-release processing errors affected some WASSCE results, particularly subjects using serialised examination papers. WAEC later corrected the affected results. That incident does not prove similar errors occurred in 2026, but it has strengthened calls for independent scrutiny. WAEC also acknowledged operational problems during this year’s examination, including delays that forced some candidates to sit Mathematics and Agricultural Science papers late in the day. The council attributed some disruptions to logistical difficulties following a road accident that killed three WAEC officials.
Established in 1952, WAEC is one of West Africa’s most important examination institutions, serving Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia. Its certificates are used for university admissions, employment and academic verification within and outside the region, giving the controversy significance beyond Nigeria. WAEC has expanded digital certificate verification across its member countries as part of its modernization efforts. For the examination body, the immediate challenge is determining whether the complaints reflect isolated problems, technical failures, differences in student performance or a combination of factors. For nearly 2 million Nigerian candidates, the outcome could affect university admissions, scholarships and decisions about whether examinations must be retaken.
