Technical glitch: WAEC, JAMB bringing Nigeria’s educational system to disrepute – Stakeholders
Education stakeholders have decried what they described as “unfortunate” happenings in the country’s external education bodies- Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, as well as the West African Examinations Council, WAEC.
DAILY POST reports that examinations held by both boards this year witnessed what was called technical glitches.
The development created confusion, with results withdrawn and another version later released.
Nigerians are now raising posers over the credibility and reliability of Nigeria’s standardised testing systems.
Stakeholders expressed fear that these recurring issues may undermine public confidence in the fairness and accuracy of critical academic assessments.
The year 2025 will go down in history as Nigeria’s two cardinal examination bodies- JAMB and WAEC were hit by a massive crisis over what was described as glitches.
DAILY POST recalls that in the first instance, it was JAMB which had to repeat the examination for some candidates after results were released.
What JAMB later described as technical glitches led to scrambled results and mass failure, prompting JAMB to acknowledge the errors and order resits for affected candidates.
DAILY POST gathered that the crisis stemmed from an unapplied software patch on servers for Lagos and the South-East zones, which misprocessed candidate responses, affecting approximately 379,997 students.
This incident stirred public outrage, calls for accountability, and highlighted existing flaws in JAMB’s computer-based testing, CBT, platform, which has experienced recurring issues in previous years.
JAMB Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, had said that at least 65 centres, comprising 206,610 candidates were affected in the Lagos zone as well as 92 centres, consisting of 173,387 candidates were affected in the Owerri zone.
“In simple terms, while 65 centers (206,610 candidates) were affected in Lagos zone (comprising only Lagos state), 92 centers (173,387 candidates) were affected in Owerri zone, which includes the South East states.”
According to Oloyede, the issue was identified on the second day of the examinations, which was Friday, April 25, 2025, adding that they discovered that there was some omission in the items within the LAG category.
DAILY POST also recalls that Oloyede dismissed speculations that the technical glitch recorded in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, was part of a conspiracy against some parts of the country.
Reacting, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies blamed the glitch that characterised the 2025 UTME results on human error rather than a failure of technology.
The Chairman of the Committee, Oboku Oforji, while addressing newsmen in the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, stated that preliminary findings indicate that the error was human-induced rather than a technical glitch as claimed by JAMB.
DAILY POST recalls that on August 4, WAEC released the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, 2025 results, announcing that there was a mass failure in the English Language.
The Council also later said there were technical issues that affected the initially released 2025 WASSCE results, causing some candidates’ scores to be displayed incorrectly.
The glitch was linked to the council’s new paper serialisation security feature, which was implemented in subjects like Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics.
A statement by the Head of Public Affairs, WAEC National Office, Moyosola Adesina, revealed that the Council identified bugs in its result system following a post-release review of the 2025 WASSCE results, which led to the access denial.
The Council said access to the result checker portal was temporarily suspended, urging candidates who had previously checked their results to re-check for the updated versions.
“The West African Examinations Council sincerely regrets informing the general public of technical issues discovered during the internal review of the recently released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates, 2025.
“As part of our efforts to curb malpractice, the Council embarked on an innovation—paper serialisation—already deployed by a national examination body. It is worth noting that this is in line with best assessment practices. The paper serialisation was carried out in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics. However, an internal post-release procedure revealed some technical bugs in the results,” the statement said.
On its part, the Federal Ministry of Education had announced the resolution of a technical issue affecting the 2025 West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations results.
A statement by the Director of Press of the Ministry, Folasade Boriowo, said the Ministry commended the West African Examinations Council for its swift response, transparency, and professionalism in resolving the glitch. Updated results will be accessible via the result checker portal within the next 24 hours.
The Ministry also appreciated the patience of affected candidates and assured the public of its continued pursuit of fairness and credibility in assessment processes.
“This development reinforces the Honourable Minister’s broader education reform agenda, which prioritizes examination integrity across all bodies under the Ministry’s supervision, particularly WAEC and the National Examinations Council, NECO.
“In line with this, both bodies are set to commence a phased rollout of Computer-Based Testing beginning with objective components in November 2026.
“The adoption of CBT represents a critical step toward curbing malpractice, preventing question leakages, and restoring public trust in the examination system. It is a necessary reform to ensure Nigerian students are assessed strictly on merit and that their certificates retain credibility both locally and internationally,” Boriowo stated.
Speaking to DAILY POST, some students and parents criticized WAEC over the development, describing it as a sign of inefficiency.
A parent, Mr Isaiah Chukwu, slammed the decision to review the results, describing it as the “dumbest move” driven by complaints of mass failure.
“Those who have failed, have failed. They should go back and rewrite the exams if they have failed, not look for ways to review results to favour those who have connections.
“Such a decision is one of the dumbest moves to review the results; it means that the government is one of the problems we have in the educational sector.
“Parents should work on their children, allow your children to study, and don’t encourage your children to cheat in order to succeed,” he said.
Another parent, Mrs Margaret Ameh, also criticised the idea of reviewing the results.
She added that the government should instead work on ways to strengthen the educational system, reiterating that if the mistake is not from the examination body, candidates should be encouraged to prepare properly and rewrite the exams next year.
“Why is it called an examination? It is so because if you don’t pass, you can prepare to rewrite next time and pass and not think of reviewing the results to favor anybody.
“Our educational system should be strengthened, our secondary education should be given attention, and quality teachers should be employed to properly guide our children. If these are done, they will pass external exams,” she said.
A student, who pleaded anonymity, explained his experience while checking his WAEC result, urging the council to rise on its oars and put its technical department in order so as to forestall further occurrence in future.
“At first when I checked my result, I had a pass (D7) in English Language, but when I checked again after WAEC said it had resolved the technical issue, I had a B3 in the same English Language.
“Even though I thank God for scaling through, I think WAEC should step up because if this continues in future, it is likely to tarnish the image and credibility of the examination body,” the student said.
Speaking to DAILY POST, a tech expert, Echezona Chinedu, said if Nigeria’s examination bodies continue to operate without accountability, more students risk being failed not by their performance, but by the very systems meant to measure their potential.
He, therefore, urged JAMB and WAEC to focus on independent audits, systemic overhaul and enhanced quality assurance to prevent future recurrence to avert toying with the future of Nigerian children.
“These are external examination bodies, who are supposed to be reputed in their areas of jurisdiction in shaping the future of our children.
“They should always carry out holistic post-release audits. They should integrate holistic transparency and accountability with secure result systems.
“It is also incumbent on them to implement robust quality assurance processes, and make sure that they are fully prepared for computer-based testing transitions to build public trust and ensure accurate results,” he added.
Technical glitch: WAEC, JAMB bringing Nigeria’s educational system to disrepute – Stakeholders
