WAEC Clarifies Late-Night Exams, Apologises to Students

On 28 May, many students across Nigeria sat for their English Language Paper 2 hours behind schedule. In some centres, the exam didn’t start until late evening. Some students wrote under torchlight. Others, under kerosene lanterns.

Photos and videos from social media made the rounds quickly, showing tired students still bent over their scripts at 10pm. Naturally, parents and teachers were angry. They questioned how this could happen in such an important exam.

WAEC: We Were Trying to Stop Leaks

WAEC came out the next day with an explanation. Their Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, said the council delayed the exam on purpose. The goal, she said, was to stop any chance of question papers leaking.

“We wanted to protect the exam,” she said. “That aim affected how fast we could carry it out.”

Other Problems Didn’t Help

Apart from trying to stop cheating, WAEC mentioned a few other issues that slowed things down:

• Moving exam materials across long distances
• Trouble with security in some places
• Local problems in different areas

Put all that together, and it became clear why things went sideways.

They’re Promising to Do Better

WAEC says it is now working closely with security agencies to fix these problems before the next round of exams. They’re trying to make the process smoother and avoid anything like this again.

The council also apologised. They said sorry to the students, schools, and parents affected. “We know how much this meant to you. We didn’t mean to cause such trouble,” Adesina added.

Exams Still Going On

The full exam schedule runs from 24 April to 20 June. So students still have more papers to write. WAEC says it remains committed to keeping things fair and safe. Whether they’ll now deliver on time? We’ll see.

Mistakes like this sting, especially when students are the ones left in the dark. Quite literally.

Search for more content: