Fixing The Credibility Issue In Nigeria’s Examination Bodies

On August 4, 2025, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced that a technical glitch had altered the results of its 2025 Senior School Certificate Examinations, causing thousands of students to panic. For many families, the announcement brought back memories of the English language paper on May 28, 2025, that students took at night, risking their safety. The paper started at about 8:00 PM because of logistical failures, forcing students to travel home in the darkness. In a related case, a candidate reportedly committed suicide because of technical errors that altered the scores of several candidates. Examination irregularities restrict students’ right to quality education in Nigeria. By enforcing transparency, demanding accountability, and protecting students’ rights to fair assessment and standard education, the government can restore trust in the system.

Fixing the inadequacies within Nigeria’s examination bodies must begin with transparency and accountability. Beyond apologizing after every irregularity, examination bodies, including WAEC and JAMB, should subject their digital platforms to regular audits. Independent bodies can conduct these audits. They should cover sensitive areas such as the condition and reliability of the devices used for computer-based tests, the accuracy of grading systems, the processes for collating and releasing results, the handling of registration and examination fees, and cybersecurity.

Nigeria can learn from Kenya’s approach to examination security and accountability. Kenya introduced smart digital padlocks in 250 examination storage containers that connect to a central command center, enabling real-time tracking of the opening and closing of the containers. These digital locks create an audit trail that records who accessed materials, when, and for how long, making unauthorized access nearly impossible. As banks open their books to independent auditors to prove financial credibility, examination bodies should be subject to the same standard to prove academic credibility. Such audits would reduce the occurrence of technical glitches and mitigate their impact.

Accountability must also extend to universities, where students face their own examination challenges. From mysteriously missing answer scripts to arbitrary grade alterations, university exam irregularities undermine academic integrity. Departments and lecturers found complicit in exam negligence should face disciplinary measures, including suspension or dismissal. University authorities should hold the departments and lecturers equally accountable for negligence, as they hold students accountable for malpractice. In addition, universities should take students’ feedback seriously to ensure continuous accountability of academic staff and the fair treatment of students. The government should establish student redress systems across examination bodies, allowing students to challenge issues such as withheld, outstanding, and missing results without unnecessary delays. This proposed solution would secure students’ right to fair evaluation and prevent tragic incidents like suicide resulting from administrative incompetence.

Students experiencing these examination crises also need emotional support. Although very real, people seldom discuss the psychological toll that examination irregularities have on students. Students who suffer from these irregularities carry scars that affect their confidence, trust, and productivity. Many develop anxiety about future examinations and lose faith in meritocracy, questioning whether hard work truly matters when systems repeatedly fail them. This issue weighs even heavily when families have invested their limited resources in their children’s education, expecting returns that examination failures deny them. Counseling centers, nongovernmental organizations, and education advocates should provide psychosocial support to such students. They can also document recurring failures to push for systemic reform and prevent tragic outcomes, like suicide and depression, that stem from these issues.

Nigerian students deserve more than apologies after recurring examination crises. The credibility of Nigeria’s educational system will remain questionable until examination bodies and universities adopt transparency and student-centered reforms.