WAEC’s English Exam Fiasco: A Symptom of Deeper Systemic Decay

WAEC’s English Exam Fiasco: A Symptom of Deeper Systemic Decay

By Matthew Eloyi

The recent chaos that marred the conduct of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC)’s 2025 English Language Paper 2, Nigeria’s most widely written subject, has once again laid bare the staggering incompetence and systemic rot festering in our examination bodies. This time, the excuse handed down by WAEC’s Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, is that heightened efforts to prevent exam malpractice, particularly question leakages, led to the delay. But one is left wondering: must protecting integrity always come at the cost of basic decency and student welfare?

Reports and videos that flooded social media platforms showed students sitting for the English Language paper as late as 10pm in pitch-dark classrooms, writing under torchlight and flickering kerosene lanterns. In some centres, it was far worse. These were not isolated occurrences. In Delta State, for instance, candidates began writing well into the evening due to delayed delivery of examination materials. Parents, teachers, and ordinary citizens were rightfully outraged.

What WAEC offered as an apology fell short of what Nigerians expect from an institution charged with shaping the academic future of millions. Acknowledging the disruption and then blaming it on “logistical challenges, security concerns, and sociocultural dynamics” without taking direct responsibility amounts to little more than bureaucratic buck-passing. It is the same evasive strategy we saw earlier this month when the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admitted to an error in the grading of UTME results, which led to several high-performing candidates receiving drastically lower scores than they deserved. If JAMB’s excuse was software failure and “technical hitches,” WAEC’s is “tightened security.” Either way, the outcome is the same: avoidable suffering for innocent students.

Let us be clear: no one is against WAEC or any other examination body taking stringent steps to curb examination malpractice. In fact, Nigerians welcome it. The examination leakage industry is a cancer that has eaten deep into the roots of our academic and ethical foundations. However, it is unacceptable for these so-called solutions to result in students writing in near darkness or being subjected to physical and psychological stress because someone in an office failed to do their job efficiently.

WAEC, like JAMB, is supposed to be a trusted custodian of the academic hopes of millions. When either institution fumbles, it does more than delay a test or misgrade a paper; it undermines the very faith young people and their families place in the education system. And this faith is already hanging by a thread in a country where tertiary admission is a cutthroat affair, unemployment is high, and education is the only lifeline many families believe can lead their children to a better future.

How is it possible that in 2025, in an age of drones, biometric scanners, digital tracking systems, and artificial intelligence, WAEC still cannot securely and efficiently distribute exam papers without triggering nationwide delays and humiliation? The same nation that runs successful national elections with materials deployed across 36 states and 774 local government areas, under immense pressure and often in hostile terrain, somehow cannot guarantee timely exam delivery to secondary schools? It’s a damning indictment.

Furthermore, why did WAEC not anticipate the implications of a delayed exam in a country where power supply is notoriously unreliable? Did no one think of what it means to ask children to write comprehension and essay questions under lanterns and torchlights? Have these exam officials forgotten what it means to be a teenager under stress, or are they so removed from the realities of public education that they can’t even empathize?

In fact, this latest debacle shares uncanny similarities with JAMB’s 2025 UTME error. In both cases, we saw students bearing the brunt of institutional failings while officials scurried to manage PR crises. In JAMB’s case, some candidates who scored 300+ found their results slashed to less than 200. Their dreams of studying medicine, engineering, or law were nearly dashed before a reluctant acknowledgment came from the board. In WAEC’s case, students waited in exam halls for hours, with their nerves frayed and concentration shattered, only to be told to begin a critical paper deep into the night. It was a betrayal of trust.

WAEC’s excuse about “sociocultural dynamics” and “security concerns” reads like a lazy attempt to deflect from poor coordination. If the logistics failed, who was in charge of logistics? Have they been queried? Were there contingency plans? What about schools in areas where the exams did not start at all? WAEC’s apology does not address these concerns. Neither does it show how such a debacle will be prevented in the future. We have heard these hollow assurances before.

What Nigeria desperately needs now is accountability. Heads should roll. Public officials should be made to understand that incompetence has consequences. An independent probe into the circumstances surrounding the delay should be instituted, and the findings made public. WAEC must also adopt technological innovations that ensure integrity and efficiency; not one at the cost of the other.

Beyond that, the National Assembly must rise from its slumber and demand better oversight of public examination bodies. There should be public hearings where students and parents can tell their stories, and where officials from WAEC and JAMB can be held to account. This is the only way to restore public confidence.

Enough is enough. Nigerian students deserve better. They should not be victims of the very systems that are supposed to support their educational journey. The trauma of sitting for a national examination under torchlight is one they will not easily forget. WAEC, and indeed JAMB, must wake up to the urgency of reform or make way for those who can do the job with competence, empathy, and vision.