WAEC & JAMB Glitches Worry Stakeholders in Nigeria

Education stakeholders have lamented what they termed as “unfortunate” occurrences within the country’s external educational organizations, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

According to DAILY POST, this year’s examinations conducted by both boards encountered what was described as technical issues.

This situation led to confusion, with results being retracted and a new version issued later.

Nigerians are questioning the credibility and dependability of Nigeria’s standardized testing systems.

Stakeholders are worried that these ongoing problems could erode public trust in the fairness and precision of vital academic evaluations.

The year 2025 will be remembered as a significant crisis for Nigeria’s two main examination bodies—JAMB and WAEC—due to what has been called technical glitches.

DAILY POST recalls that initially, it was JAMB that had to administer the examination again for some candidates after results were published.

What JAMB later termed as technical glitches resulted in disordered results and widespread failures, prompting JAMB to recognize the mistakes and mandate resits for the affected students.

DAILY POST has learned that the crisis originated from a software patch that was not applied to the servers for the Lagos and South-East regions, which mishandled candidates’ responses, impacting around 379,997 students.

This incident ignited public outrage and demands for accountability and brought attention to ongoing flaws in JAMB’s computer-based testing (CBT) system, which has faced recurring challenges in previous years.

JAMB Registrar Ishaq Oloyede stated that at least 65 centers, serving 206,610 candidates, were impacted in the Lagos region, while 92 centers, involving 173,387 candidates, were affected in the Owerri region.

“In straightforward terms, while 65 centers (206,610 candidates) were disrupted in the Lagos region (including only Lagos State), 92 centers (173,387 candidates) were compromised in Owerri, which encompasses the Southeast states.”

Oloyede mentioned that the problem was detected on the second day of the examinations, which fell on Friday, April 25, 2025, adding that they found some omissions in the items within the LAG category.

DAILY POST also recalls that Oloyede rejected rumors suggesting that the technical issue recorded during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was part of a conspiracy against certain regions of the country.

In response, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies attributed the glitch affecting the 2025 UTME results to human error rather than a technological failure.

The Chairman of the Committee, Oboku Oforji, while speaking to journalists in the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, stated that early findings suggest that the error was induced by human action rather than a technical problem as claimed by JAMB.

DAILY POST recalls that on August 4, WAEC announced the results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for 2025, indicating a significant failure rate in the English Language.

The Council later noted that there were technical problems affecting the initially published 2025 WASSCE results, leading to incorrect score displays for some candidates.

The glitch was associated with the council’s new paper serialization security feature implemented for subjects such as mathematics, English language, biology, and economics.

A statement from the Head of Public Affairs at the WAEC National Office, Moyosola Adesina, revealed that the Council discovered bugs in its results system after conducting a post-release review of the 2025 WASSCE results, which resulted in restricted access.

The Council announced that access to the results checker portal was temporarily halted, advising candidates who had previously checked their results to verify again for updated versions.

“The West African Examinations Council sincerely regrets informing the public about the technical issues identified during the internal review of the recently released results for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates, 2025.”

“In an effort to address malpractice, the Council initiated an innovation—paper serialization—already implemented by a national examination authority. It’s important to highlight that this aligns with optimal assessment standards. The paper serialization was conducted for mathematics, English language, biology, and economics. However, an internal review post-results indicated some technical issues with the outcomes,” the statement noted.

For its part, the Federal Ministry of Education announced the resolution of a technical glitch affecting the results of the 2025 West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations.

A statement from the ministry’s director of press, Folasade Boriowo, commended the West African Examinations Council for its timely response, transparency, and professionalism in addressing the issue. Updated results will be available through the result checker portal within the next 24 hours.

The ministry also thanked the affected candidates for their patience and assured the public of its ongoing commitment to fairness and reliability in assessment procedures.

“This situation reinforces the Honourable Minister’s broader education reform initiative, which emphasizes the integrity of examinations across all agencies under the Ministry’s oversight, particularly WAEC and the National Examinations Council, NECO.

“In line with this, both organizations are planning a phased introduction of computer-based testing, starting with objective assessments in November 2026.

“The implementation of CBT is a vital measure to combat malpractice, prevent question leaks, and restore public confidence in the examination system. It is an essential reform to ensure that Nigerian students are evaluated solely on merit and that their certifications hold credibility both locally and internationally,” Boriowo expressed.

In discussions with DAILY POST, several students and parents criticized WAEC regarding the situation, calling it a mark of incompetence.

A parent, Mr. Isaiah Chukwu, condemned the decision to reevaluate the results, labeling it the “dumbest move” motivated by complaints of widespread failures.

“Those who failed should accept their results and retake the exams instead of seeking ways to alter results to benefit those with connections.

“This choice to modify results is among the most foolish actions; it illustrates that the government is part of the challenges we face in education.

“Parents should focus on their children, encourage them to study, and not promote cheating as a means to succeed,” he stated.

Another parent, Mrs. Margaret Ameh, also expressed disapproval of the idea of revising the results.

She emphasized that the government should prioritize strengthening the educational system, maintaining that if the error did not originate from the examination body, candidates should be motivated to study diligently and attempt the exams again next year.

“Why is it called an examination? It’s because if you fail, you have the opportunity to prepare and retake it to succeed, rather than seeking to alter the results to favor anyone.

“Our education system needs to be fortified, secondary education requires more attention, and qualified teachers should be employed to effectively guide our children. If these measures are implemented, they will succeed in external examinations,” she stated.

A student, who wished to remain anonymous, recounted his experience while verifying his WAEC result, urging the council to enhance its technical department to prevent similar issues in the future.

“When I first checked my result, I received a pass (D7) in English Language, but when I checked again after WAEC announced it had resolved the technical issue, I found I had a B3 in the same English Language.”

“While I am grateful to God for my success, I believe WAEC needs to improve its operations, as continued issues like this could damage the reputation and reliability of the examination body,” stated the student.

In an interview with DAILY POST, technology specialist Echezona Chinedu remarked that if Nigeria’s examination authorities persist in functioning without accountability, an increasing number of students may be failed not due to their actual performance, but because of the systems designed to assess their capabilities.

He consequently called on JAMB and WAEC to prioritize independent evaluations, systematic reforms, and improved quality assurance to prevent similar issues in the future, as this jeopardizes the futures of Nigerian youth.

“These are external examination authorities that should be recognized in their fields for their role in shaping the destinies of our children.

“They ought to conduct comprehensive audits after results are released. They need to incorporate complete transparency and accountability with secure systems for results.

“They also have a responsibility to establish rigorous quality assurance measures and ensure they are adequately prepared for transitions to computer-based testing, which would help foster public confidence and guarantee accurate outcomes,” he continued.