Nigeria’s education sector is once again under scrutiny following the release of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results, which revealed the worst performance in a decade.
As WAEC defends its new anti-cheating measures and digital transition, stakeholders identify foundational issues that must be addressed, writes WALE AKINSELURE.
The West African Examinations Council announced on Monday the worst performance of candidates in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in a decade, sparking widespread concern among stakeholders over the state of education, the rising influence of malpractice, and the readiness for full digital transition in national examinations.
Unwrapping the results, head, National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Dr Amos Dangut, disclosed that 38.32 per cent of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat the examination obtained credits and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. The last time Nigeria recorded a pass rate lower than 38.32 per cent was in 2014, when only 31.28 per cent obtained credit in at least five subjects, including English and Mathematics.
Since 2015, the pass rate has been undulating, with the 2025 result a sharp decline of 33.8 per cent from the 72.12 per cent pass rate recorded just last year. In the past decade, the highest pass rate of 81.70 per cent was recorded in 2021. The year 2015 also witnessed a low pass rate of 38.68 per cent. It was 52.97 per cent in 2016, 59.22 per cent in 2017, 48.15 per cent in 2018, 64.18 per cent in 2019, and 65.24 per cent in 2020. The pass rate was not lower than 70 per cent from 2021 till 2024, until Monday’s release of the 2025, which was a drastic decline.
The WAEC National Office Head had acknowledged the decline, which he attributed to newly implemented anti-malpractice measures, including serialisation of questions. “The drop in performance can be attributed to new anti-malpractice measures, including the serialisation of objective papers in key subjects, which made collusion and cheating more difficult,” he said.
Dangut linked the slight drop in malpractice rate compared to last year to the introduction of Computer-Based Testing in key subjects such as English Language, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics. He expressed concern over the rising influence of online platforms in facilitating exam fraud. “Students now rely on so-called ‘expo’ from rogue websites and social media platforms, many of which only deceive them or offer already outdated materials,” Dangut said.
He, however, pointed out that 451,796 results, accounting for 22.94 per cent, are still being processed due to technical or administrative issues. Furthermore, he noted that the results of 192,089 candidates, amounting to 9.75 per cent, are being withheld over alleged involvement in various forms of examination malpractice—a reduction from the 11.92 per cent recorded in 2024. Despite the low number of candidates passing with credits, including English and Mathematics, Dangut disclosed that 1,718,090 candidates, representing 87.24 per cent, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, whether or not they included English and Mathematics. He explained that in 2025, candidates were given the option of writing the examination in the traditional pen-and-paper format or in a hybrid CBT model, where questions appeared on screen and answers were written in booklets.
Interestingly, the performance drop comes the year before the planned full transition to the conduct of WASSCE via Computer-Based Testing for the WASSCE by 2026, in line with the directive of the Federal Government. Dangut said the council is concluding arrangements for the total conduct of Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates in 2026.
This comes against the backdrop of the fact that since the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa in April directed the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council to adopt full CBT for all their examinations by 2026, there have been consistent declarations by stakeholders that the 2026 timeline for transition to CBT for WAEC or National Examination Council examinations rushed and impractical. Their worry is backed by the glitches recorded in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, which had to be retaken in some states over what was generally termed “glitches.”
