WAEC Under Fire as Result Portal Crashes

By: Aremu Toyeebaht

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is facing renewed scrutiny after its result checker portal went offline on Wednesday evening, just days after announcing the worst performance in over a decade for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The Council blamed the outage on “technical issues,” in a notice posted via its official X handle, @waecnigeria.

“WAEC hereby informs the general public that the result checker portal @waecdirect.org is temporarily shut down due to technical issues. However, the Council is working assiduously to ensure that candidates are able to access their results in the next 24 hours. We apologise for any inconvenience this might have caused you,” the notice read.

The announcement has done little to ease growing public discontent, especially amid ongoing debates over the integrity of this year’s examination process. Just 38.32 per cent of the 1.97 million candidates who sat the 2025 WASSCE secured five credits including English and Mathematics—sparking widespread concern.

The outage also follows reports of logistical failures, including the delayed English Language paper, which in some centres was conducted late into the night on May 28. Social media users have since flooded WAEC’s pages with screenshots of results, alleging mass failure in English despite strong performances in other subjects.

Calls are mounting for a thorough review of the English Language scripts, as critics question whether technical lapses and procedural flaws may have influenced the outcome of the crucial exam.