Many Nigerians are attributing the poor performance in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to the challenging conditions under which students wrote their papers, including reports of exams being conducted late into the night. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results on Monday, showing a significant drop in student performance compared to previous years.
Out of 1,973,365 registered candidates across 23,554 recognized secondary schools in Nigeria, 1,969,313 sat for the examination between April and June. The exam was also administered in Nigerian curriculum schools in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea.
According to WAEC, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32 percent, obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, down from 72.12 percent in 2024.
WAEC Nigeria Head, Amos Dangut, noted at a press briefing in Lagos that the council observed a notable drop in the number of candidates passing core subjects.
Parents, students, and education stakeholders said the late-night exam schedule contributed to the decline. One parent commented, “An exam that was written late at night, how do you expect those children to pass?”
Insider reports indicated that WAEC had to reprint question papers following a tip-off, which disrupted logistics and increased pressure on staff. “Some people worked 48 hours non-stop to manage the situation. Staff in Ikorodu even had to travel to printing presses to assist with packing and coding question papers,” a source said.
The reports also highlighted the presence of online platforms allegedly selling answers to examination papers, with one source claiming some platforms charged N1,000 per candidate for English Language answers.
WAEC and education stakeholders are reviewing the situation, and there have been calls for further investigation into the exam administration process, as well as consideration of a resit for affected candidates.
