- Safiu Kehinde
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has sparked public outrage after delay in conduct of its examination, forcing candidates to write in the night.
The worrisome ordeal which was experienced in all centres and secondary schools across Nigeria had brought the examination board under limelight as several videos of candidates writing their English Language examination in the dark surfaced online.
While the examination eventually commences around 9pm in some centres, others reported commencement around 9:30pm.
The situation forced several parents and guardians to stay up late and keep watch on their wards at their respective centres.
Recounting their ordeal on social media, some parents reportedly went to the centres armed amid security concerns and safety.
As captured in some videos made available on X, candidates were seen writing examinations with candlelight, lanterns, and mobile phone flashlights amongst other source of illumination.
With the Joint Admission Matriculation Examination Board’s (JAMB) terrific conduct and costly errors in its 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) still lingering in the air, WAEC’s blunder has again stirred reactions from netizens.
“Why would candidates write the exams late in the night is the main issue? not about power shortage! WAEC authorities have all the amble time to get things done yet we still find adults unable to conduct exam of this magnitude for children; it is very disturbing.”@Solomon Zuokumor wrote.
“We are just a joke in Africa and Nigeria. Now, how do they curb malpractices in this situation? How do students do well in this kind of situation? The Minister of Education should be probed!
Recently, it was JAMB, now WAEC.” @iyanda_bukky
“@waecnigeria what exactly do you people think you are doing? Where on earth do things like this happen? This kind of anyhowness tells a lot about the way you people do your jobs shoddily; like what’s all this ? And @NigEducation will keep quiet ? It is very sad !”@ChinweOfoha2
“This can’t be an error , an error can’t occur in different states same day , this is a planned out act , everyone involved needs to be arrested, how will u set time 8am start exam 12am , what is really going on in this country”@Ricky_sweetlife
“@NigEducation has gone m@d 😡 what is wrong with @waecnigeria? Why WAEC is risking children’s lives to write exam in the night?”@DebbySimon69
See videos below