The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is facing increasing scrutiny over its 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, following complaints from school administrators and education stakeholders about alleged grading irregularities and technical challenges linked to the expansion of Computer-Based Testing (CBT).
Some school officials and education advocates claim that students who had previously demonstrated strong academic performance received unexpectedly low grades in the 2026 examination.
The Director of Impact House Model Schools, Mowe, Ogun State, Sam Abdulazeez, said his school had noticed a decline in WASSCE performance in 2025 and 2026, despite retaining its teachers, upgrading facilities and increasing examination preparations.
Abdulazeez said the school has presented candidates for WASSCE since 2017 and had previously recorded strong results, particularly in Mathematics and English Language.
He recalled that all 45 candidates presented by the school for Mathematics in 2024 obtained A1.
However, he said the school’s results changed significantly after the introduction of serialisation and CBT.
According to him, more than 30 of the 69 students the school presented for the 2026 UTME scored above 300, while none scored below 200.
He said the school conducted 22 mock UTME examinations and regularly exposed students to computer-based testing before the actual examination.
Abdulazeez said the disparity became obvious after the release of the WASSCE results.
He said only about three or four of the school’s 69 candidates obtained A1 in Mathematics, despite some students scoring as high as 98 in the subject during UTME.
The school also recorded concerns with English Language results, with Abdulazeez saying only a small number of students obtained credits while many received B2 and B3 grades.
He said the school had maintained what he described as a strong teaching workforce and had invested significantly in infrastructure in preparation for WAEC’s planned transition to computer-based examinations.
However, Abdulazeez said a WAEC mock examination conducted at the school shortly before the main examination encountered technical problems.
According to him, the systems failed to connect to the WAEC server on the first day, while a second attempt was also unsuccessful.
He said the school subsequently contacted WAEC officials in Ogun State and Lagos over concerns about the reliability of the system.
WAEC eventually approved the school to conduct a paper-based examination, despite the institution having initially been listed for CBT.
Abdulazeez also alleged that similar concerns arose from the school’s 2025 WASSCE results.
He claimed some students initially received lower grades than expected, only for certain grades on the result portal to later change.
The experience, he said, led the school to delay publishing the 2026 results in anticipation of a possible adjustment, but no changes were observed.
He also questioned the impact of serialisation — the use of different versions of examination papers — particularly in subjects such as Mathematics, English, Economics and Biology.
Another school administrator, who requested anonymity, alleged that some students with high UTME scores and strong previous academic records received D7, E8 and F9 grades in core subjects in the 2026 WASSCE.
The administrator claimed that two students who had already gained admission to the University of Ibadan were recorded as failing Mathematics and English Language in the WAEC results.
Educationist Fola Adekeye called on WAEC to ensure that its examination procedures and results meet the highest standards of integrity.
He said examination bodies should proactively investigate complaints instead of waiting for public criticism before addressing potential problems.
Adekeye also cited concerns involving high-performing students, including a school head boy who scored 369 in the UTME and was reportedly ranked third nationwide, but whose WAEC result showed five As and Bs.
He cautioned against making unsupported accusations against examination bodies, stressing that his concern was the credibility and integrity of the examination process.
Adekeye urged WAEC to upgrade its facilities where necessary and clearly communicate changes to examination methods, curricula and assessment procedures before implementation.
Legal Threat Over 2026 CBT Results
Meanwhile, the Initiative for School Excellence and Education Foundation (ISEE), through its lawyers, Zuriel Law Practice, has threatened legal action against WAEC over alleged irregularities in the conduct and processing of the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE.
The organisation said it had received complaints from candidates concerning possible discrepancies in the recording and processing of examination responses.
In a formal demand to WAEC, its lawyers requested the preservation of original electronic records, including candidate response databases, system audit trails, server logs and scoring records.
They also demanded access to the technical standards, regulations and manuals used to administer the 2026 CBT examination.
The organisation wants affected candidates to have a mechanism through which they can inspect their examination records, including questions presented, recorded answers and the scoring process.
It further proposed an independent audit of the CBT platform by education and information technology specialists.
The lawyers gave WAEC 14 days from the receipt of the letter to confirm that the records had been preserved and establish procedures for reviewing the disputed results.
They warned that failure to respond could lead to court proceedings seeking orders for disclosure, verification and human review of affected results.
ISEE founder Alex Onyia also called for greater transparency in WAEC’s grading process, particularly amid allegations of question leakage at some paper-based examination centres.
He questioned whether candidates who sat examinations under different conditions were properly standardised as a single population.
Onyia called on WAEC to publish raw-score distributions, grade thresholds for major subjects and details of how candidates from different examination modes were standardised.
He also requested clarification on the process for reviewing results challenged by candidates and called for an investigation into allegations concerning WAEC Nigeria’s internal management.
Onyia urged the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Assembly to invite WAEC Nigeria’s leadership to explain how the 2026 results were processed.
WAEC Defends Results
However, WAEC has defended the credibility of the 2026 WASSCE results amid the criticisms.
The examination body said it had noted comments from content creators and social media users questioning the accuracy of the results.
WAEC Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, said the results were produced through rigorous and quality-assured procedures that have guided the council’s examinations over the years.
According to WAEC, the 2026 WASSCE for School Candidates was conducted in accordance with its established standard operating procedures and relevant education policies, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education.
The council urged candidates, parents, schools and members of the public to be cautious about relying on unverified claims concerning the results.
WAEC explained that candidates’ scripts underwent multiple stages of marking, moderation and auditing using standardised marking schemes and under the supervision of vetted subject specialists.
The examination body advised anyone with concerns about individual results to contact WAEC directly through its offices and verified communication channels rather than relying on social media claims.
The latest controversy comes amid previous concerns over glitches and errors involving Nigerian examination results.
In 2025, the former JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, publicly apologised for errors associated with the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results, acknowledging mistakes during a press briefing in Abuja.
