Candidates sitting the ongoing 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) across some Southwestern states in Nigeria were held at their examination centres until late at night on Thursday.

This is coming at a time when threats of insecurity, especially around school environments, have become rife, particularly following the 15 May violent abduction of 46 students and seven teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

A similar case of mass abduction of students across some schools was also reported in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, on the same day, 15 May.

Various government authorities and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) have consistently debunked news of kidnapping threats in various states, including Oyo, Osun, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), among others.

However, stakeholders have blamed the examination body for subjecting the innocent students to an atmosphere not conducive to proper teaching and learning.

Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of WAEC to the development proved abortive as both the Head of Nigeria Office of the examination body, Amos Dangut, and the Acting Head of the body’s Public Affairs Unit, Moyosore Adesina, did not pick calls to their mobile lines.

DevReporting has observed a consistent pattern of the examination body ignoring inquiries into issues that concern its management.

Recently, when members of the examination body’s chapter of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) embarked on a three-day protest, both Mr Dangut and Mrs Adesina refused to comment on the matter.

However, top officials of the examination body who do not want to be quoted for lacking the authority to speak for WAEC, told DevReporting that the currently logistics challenge being experienced was further compounded on Wednesday when three members of staff died in a motor accident.

The deceased staffers, who were reportedly conveying sensitive materials to designated points when the accident occurred, were said to be critical to the conduct of the examination.

“We cannot say they are irreplaceable, but replacing them at this critical time is a serious challenge. You know this examination is about security and integrity. The deceased were very central to this exam. It is very unfortunate,” one of the sources said.

Stranded candidates

Since Monday, 1 June, school owners, parents and guardians of candidates sitting the ongoing examination have complained of the delayed commencement of some papers, heightening insecurity fears.

Many are also afraid of a repeat of the 2025 experience, when candidates were stranded at the exam centres till almost midnight due to a logistics crisis.

From Ibadan to Erin-Osun in Oyo and Osun states, respectively, candidates who sat Government and Agricultural Science were stranded at the centres till late in the evening.

The Agricultural Science Practical 3 paper that was supposed to start at 2 p.m. did not start at some centres until 7 p.m.

“In fact, at our centre here in Erin-Osun, this is 8 p.m and the candidates have not started the examination,” a lecturer and parent of one of the candidates, who craved anonymity, told DevReporting.

Also, a school owner in Oyo State, who identified himself as Mr Festus, expressed disappointment that, amidst the security challenges, innocent children were being kept at examination centres unjustly.

Mr Festus said: “The delay has been the norm since the start of the examination, especially starting from Monday this week. We didn’t start CRS until around 11 a.m. for a paper that was supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. It was the same thing for Physics on the same day- 2 p.m. paper started around 4 p.m.

“It is almost 6 p.m now, the Agricultural Science Practical paper is not yet available in our centre. Considering the security concerns in Oyo State presently, this whole nonsense is not acceptable, Sir.”

Like 2025, like 2026

The experience of many candidates during the WASSCE of 28 May 2025 is still fresh in the minds of many Nigerians. The examination that was expected to end by 5 p.m. had lingered till around 12 midnight across some centres in Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, among others.

Many parents and other stakeholders had called for the immediate sack of the examination body’s head, Mr Dangut, at the time, describing him as incompetent and insensitive.