The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially refuted claims contained in a widely circulated document listing 151 secondary schools purportedly involved in examination malpractice during the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Earlier on Monday, WAEC had announced the release of the 2025 May/June WASSCE results. Within this announcement, it was stated that results for 192,089 candidates—representing 9.75 per cent of total candidates—had been withheld due to allegations of involvement in exam malpractice.
A separate document, dated August 4, 2025, and bearing the title, “Urgent notice to the following secondary schools regarding withheld results,” emerged online, listing prestigious schools allegedly under scrutiny. It was signed under the name of Dr Florence Ajayi, who is designated as WAEC Nigeria’s Director of Examination Malpractice and Irregularities.
According to the document, principals of the mentioned schools were directed to report to the WAEC Lagos Zonal Office within ten working days, armed with supporting materials and candidates’ exam scripts, as part of an ongoing investigation.
The letter reportedly stated, “All school principals are to appear before the WAEC Investigative Panel on or before August 16th, 2025, with supporting documentation and the affected candidates’ exam scripts (where applicable).”
Notable schools listed in the supposed notice include Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (Ikorodu), Corona Secondary School (Agbara), Atlantic Hall (Epe), Christ the King College (Onitsha), Stella Maris College (Abuja), and St. Louis Secondary School (Ondo), among others.
However, WAEC has swiftly distanced itself from the list. Through its official X (formerly Twitter) handle @waecnigeria on Tuesday, the body declared the list as unauthentic and unrelated to its authorized communications.
WAEC stated, “Kindly ignore any message listing schools whose results were supposedly cancelled. Meanwhile, WAEC will never ask any centre to bring scripts of candidates to the office. Where would they get them from?”
“Do not accept any message that is not on our handles and accredited media,” the statement continued.
okay.ng reports that the council also advised candidates, school officials, and the public to rely only on information shared via verified WAEC channels.
Meanwhile, in Monday’s announcement, WAEC’s Head of National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, revealed a steep drop in performance. He disclosed that only 38.32 per cent of the 1,969,313 candidates obtained credits and above in five core subjects including English Language and Mathematics—down sharply from 72.12 per cent in 2024.
Dr Dangut attributed this significant dip to enhanced anti-malpractice measures implemented during the conduct of the 2025 exams.
