Fresh concerns have emerged over the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results for school candidates following allegations by a senior official of the West African Examinations Council that technical problems affected the outcome of the examination.
The official, Olanrewaju Fadehan, who heads examinations at the WAEC office covering Anambra State, made the claims in a video that has since circulated widely online.
He alleged that candidates who took the computer-based version of the examination were among those affected by the problems.
Fadehan said the concerns became apparent around the time the results were released, claiming that WAEC had initially expected to publish the results between August 3 and 5.
He said the delay was an indication that something had gone wrong and that last-minute changes had to be made before the results could be made available.
“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 the official, the alleged adjustments had consequences for candidates who sat the computer-based examination, with Mathematics, English Language and Igbo among the subjects he specifically mentioned.
He also questioned the performance of some candidates in Igbo, particularly those from the South-East, where the language is commonly spoken.
Fadehan further raised concerns about schools that invested substantial amounts of money to prepare for WAEC’s transition to computer-based testing. He claimed that some institutions spent more than N60m on setting up facilities in preparation for the new examination format.
“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.
The WAEC official also claimed that some candidates did not have access to suitable calculators during the examination, a situation he said may have affected their performance, particularly in subjects involving calculations.
Fadehan said he had previously raised concerns about what he described as irregularities in the examination process and had taken his complaints to several authorities. He said these included the WAEC Board, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examining Bodies and the Minister of Education.
He further alleged that instead of receiving a satisfactory response to his complaints, he was subjected to disciplinary action and later placed on interdiction.
The official called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to investigate the allegations, particularly the reported performance of candidates who participated in the computer-based examination.
“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.
Fadehan also made allegations concerning the financial activities of the examination body, raising questions about the procurement and distribution of calculators, students’ identification cards and various charges paid by candidates and other people who use WAEC services.
He urged the authorities to investigate the claims, arguing that any concerns surrounding the credibility of examination results should be addressed because of the importance of WAEC certificates to students seeking admission into tertiary institutions.
WAEC, however, has yet to publicly respond to the specific allegations made by Fadehan.
When contacted for a reaction, the examination body’s Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, declined to comment.
“No comment for now,” she said.
The allegations come after similar concerns were raised by some school administrators and education stakeholders following the release of the 2026 WASSCE results.
Some of those who questioned the results claimed that students who had previously demonstrated strong academic performance received grades they considered unexpectedly low. They also raised concerns about possible technical problems associated with the wider introduction of computer-based testing.
The examination body faced a similar situation in 2025 when it acknowledged technical problems affecting its WASSCE results.
In that instance, WAEC temporarily suspended access to the results portal after identifying technical bugs during an internal post-result review. The examination body said the problem was connected to an innovation introduced as part of measures to reduce examination malpractice.
WAEC explained at the time that paper serialisation had been introduced for Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics but that an internal review after the release of the results uncovered technical problems.
The council apologised to affected candidates and directed those who had already checked their results to do so again after the corrections had been completed.
The examination body said then that it remained committed to fairness and transparency in its assessment process.
