Nigeria govment introduce new changes to Waec, Neco exams to stop malpractice

Di Nigeria govment don announce plenty changes for secondary students wey wan write di West African Certificate Examination (Waec) and di National Examination Council (Neco) exams for 2026.

Waec and Neco na for students wey don dey for dia last year of secondary school and dey prepare to move on to tertiary education.

For di 2025 Waec exam, more dan 192,000 or almost 10% of di results bin dey withheld sake of suspicion of malpractice. Di year bifor, na about 12% results dem bin seize.

To try to check dis issue of plenty exam malpractice, di Ministry of Education for Nigeria on Monday announce ogbonge changes wey dem say go "strengthen credibility, transparency and public confidence for Nigeria assessment system".

Na di tok-tok pesin for di Ministry, Boriowo Folasade, release di statement wia e tok say dem go also "intensify oversight and deploy targeted strategies to safeguard di integrity of national examinations".

So wetin be di new changes wey go take effect from di 2026 Waec and Neco exams?

Scrambling of questions

Di first change na say all di questions go dey scattered so dat e go hard for two students to dey collaborate for inside exam hall.

"While all di candidates go ansa di same examination questions, di sequencing and arrangement go dey different for each student, to make sure say evri student write a unique version of di examination," di statement tok.

Dis style of scattering exam questions no be new tin for Nigeria examination system as e don dey happen for di Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (Jamb) exams, wey be anoda exam wey secondary school leavers suppose write to get admission into universities.

Ban on SS3 students transfer

Boriowo Folasade, di tok-tok pesin for di Ministry of Education also tok say dem go enforce strict restriction for di transfer of final year secondary students from one school to anoda.

Remember say for December of 2025, Nigeria govment bin ban schools from registering new students into Senior Secondary 3 wey be di final class for secondary school.

Folasade explain say "last-minute school changes dey often dey associated wit examination malpractice" and dat na why govment ban am.

National continuous assessment

Anoda measure na di introduction of "national continuous assessment guidelines" wey di education ministry develop newly, and wey "all examinations body (like Waec, Neco) must to strictly follow" for evri academic period.

According to di statement, di submission windows for di national continuous assessment na:

"Dis timelines dey mandatory and dem dey designed to ensure consistency, data integrity and fast-fast processing of continuous assessment records across di kontri," di statement tok.

New ID number

In addition, di ministry of education say dem dey introduce a new "Examination Learners' Identification Number" for all di candidates wey go sit for di 2026 exam and going forward.

"Dis identifier go enable effective tracking of learners through out di examination process, strengthen monitoring and accountability, and support long-term reforms in assessment, certification and data management," di statement tok.

Nigeria education ministry dey overseen by two ministers: Maruf Tunji Alausa, di substantive minister, and Suwaiba Said Ahmed, di minister of state.

Candidates performance from last five Waec exams

For 2020, na 1,003,668 candidates, wey represent 65.24 per cent out of 1,601,047 wey sit for di Waec, bin get credits and above for at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, according to di examination body.

Improvement dey for 2021 as di examination board record 81.7 per cent pass rate.

Den in 2022, di percentage bin reduce to 76.36, and dis one represent more dan 5 per cent decline in performance.

For 2023, di examination body record 79.81 per cent pass rate including dose wey make English and Mathematics papers, but for 2024 di pass rate drop again to 72.12.

2025 na di worst for di last five years of Waec examination for Nigeria.

Di total number candidates wey sit for di exam na 1,969,313, but di number of candidates wey obtain credit and above for minimum of five subjects including English Language and Maths na only 754,545, representing just 38.32 per cent.