The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has dismissed claims that technical glitches or leaked examination papers affected the conduct or results of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Gatekeepers News reports that Amos Dangut, head of the Nigerian office of WAEC, said no question paper was leaked before any examination was conducted, attributing the decline in examination malpractice partly to measures introduced by the council.
Dangut spoke on Thursday at the monthly dialogue organised by the Education Writers Association of Nigeria (EWAN), themed “One-on-One with WAEC HNO: Addressing Concerns over WASSCE Results, Other Matters.”
His comments came amid concerns from some school owners and other stakeholders who questioned the results released in August, arguing that the performance of some candidates did not reflect their academic abilities.
The WAEC Nigeria boss said some of the criticism was driven by resistance to recent changes introduced by the council, including computer-based testing, randomisation and serialisation of questions.
“There is a lot of misconception, misrepresentation of the truth about the scenario,” he said.
“This very year, 2026, I can confidently tell the whole world that the WAEC examination did not leak.
“From 2024, there has been a drop in examination malpractice. Similarly, in 2025, we had a rate of 9.7 percent in examination malpractice, whereas in this year, 2026, the rate dropped to 8.59 — a decline of 1.1 percent.”
Dangut said the decline in malpractice had affected individuals and platforms that previously profited from examination fraud.
“The cyber rogue websites, cyber cafes that engage in fraudulent activities or malpractice, they did not thrive. So they were angered,” he said.
“They are part of the aggrieved people that are also fuelling this unnecessary controversy.”
He also maintained that the introduction of new assessment methods had affected candidates who previously depended on examination malpractice to perform well.
“You will also agree that if there is no malpractice, there is no leakage, definitely performance will be affected,” Dangut said.
“Because many people that have been used to thriving well, doing well in an environment that allows growth of malpractice will not have that opportunity again.”
On concerns over delays experienced during the examination, Dangut attributed them to late registration by some schools and other logistical challenges.
He maintained that the challenges did not compromise the integrity or credibility of the 2026 WASSCE results.
