Leakages, compromises, logistics challenges responsible for late night examination – WAEC tells Reps committee

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) today appeared before the House of Representatives investigating the 2025 exam, which took place on May 28.

There was outrage across the country after videos of students writing their English paper in the dark, following the late arrival of their question paper, surfaced online.

The House instituted a panel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the unacceptable incident.

While appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies, the Head of the National Office of the Council, Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, stated that compromises, leakages of its English Language paper and various other challenges led to the late conduct of the examinations.

According to Dangut, the board discovered the compromises and leakages three days before the commencement of the examination and tried to put things in order, but faced daunting challenges.
He told the Committee that the compromises led to the challenges faced because a lot of things “went wrong”.

Dangut said the organisation also encountered some logistics challenges while conveying replacements for the leaked papers, as vehicles conveying the papers to places like Taraba broke down, while some were not allowed to pass through some communities.

A member of the Committee, Dagomie Abiante (PDP, Rivers), engaged the WAEC official in a question-and-answer session. The lawmakers queried the sincerity of the examination body in not taking appropriate measures when it discovered the leak, adding that it endangers the lives of the students keeping them till late at night to take the exams.

Abiante said the examination body and indeed the country failed to take measures against such an occurrence, as done other member states of the council

Chairman of the Committee, Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa) recalled that the committee had, during its sitting on the 30th of May, 2025 and demanded an explanation for the poor handling of the WAEC examinations, which has caused a huge public outcry and condemnation across the country.