WAEC Result Crisis Deepens as Official Alleges Glitches and Irregularities

By Victor Idajil

The controversy over the recently released 2026 West African Examinations Council results for school candidates has intensified after a senior WAEC official alleged widespread glitches and irregularities.

The Head of Examinations at the WAEC office in Anambra, Olanrewaju Fadehan, made the claims in a viral video. He said candidates who sat the computer-based version of the exam were the most affected.

Fadehan alleged that problems emerged around the time the results were due for release. WAEC had been expected to announce the results between August 3 and 5, 2026, a period it traditionally uses for Monday releases.

“Obviously, there was a problem because the press was eagerly waiting on Monday, the scheduled date. There was a need to quickly do some last-minute adjustments. Something was wrong,” he said.

According to him, the last-minute adjustments affected students who took the CBT in key subjects including Mathematics, English and Igbo. He also raised concerns over reports that many candidates from the South-East performed poorly in Igbo, despite it being widely spoken in the region.

He said schools that invested heavily to meet WAEC’s CBT requirements were badly hit. Some, he alleged, spent over N60 million to set up CBT facilities in anticipation of the full transition to computer-based testing.

“The call for a review this year is particularly disturbing, as it is alarming. Schools that subscribed to the CBT innovation of WAEC were badly hit. Some of them spent upwards of N60m and above to set up their CBT facilities,” he alleged.

Fadehan further claimed that some candidates were not given the right calculators during the exam, which he said contributed to poor performance in Mathematics and other calculation-based subjects.

He said he had raised the concerns during the exams and later petitioned the WAEC Board, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examining Bodies, and the Minister of Education. 

Instead of addressing the complaints, he alleged that he faced disciplinary action and was placed on interdiction.

“I call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to investigate the cause of failure of candidates, particularly those who chose the computer-based WAEC,” he said.

The official also alleged financial impropriety within WAEC, including issues around the supply of calculators, students’ ID cards, and charges imposed on candidates and other service users. He urged the federal government and stakeholders to investigate, saying the credibility of the examination system is critical to students’ futures.

The allegations come amid growing concerns from school administrators and education advocates. Many have reported grading anomalies and technical glitches linked to the expanded Computer-Based Testing rollout. 

Some school heads say high-performing students received lower grades than expected based on their school records and performance in other assessments.

The examination body is now facing mounting pressure to review the 2026 results and address questions about the integrity of the CBT process.