The West African Examinations Council is facing renewed criticism after its result checker portal went offline on Wednesday evening, with the agency citing technical issues as the cause.
The notice, shared through WAEC’s official X account, @waecnigeria, triggered backlash amid continued anger over the poor outcome of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, especially in English Language.
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 statement has intensified public concern and speculation about the examination body’s reliability. This follows Monday’s announcement that only 38.32 per cent of the 1,969,313 candidates who took the 2025 WASSCE secured five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics — the lowest performance in ten years.
Many candidates and Nigerians took to social media to criticize what they perceived as logistical shortcomings by WAEC, especially referencing the English Language exam, which reportedly took place late at night in several centres on May 28.
On X (formerly Twitter), users posted images of their results, showing strong performance in other subjects but failure in English, demanding a thorough review of the English Language papers.
It is concerning that the English exam, which was delayed at centres nationwide, is now resulting in widespread failures. If JAMB could make amends, we hope you (WAEC) will take steps to rectify the situation. It was a national disgrace.
We wrote exams at 8 pm. We were given one hour or 30 minutes to answer questions that should last two and a half hours. There was no light, and everyone was in a hurry to leave. Please rethink.
Some candidates voiced hope that their results might change once the portal is back online.
When the portal is reopened, you will see magic.
Others suspected intentional downgrading and hinted at financial motives behind the poor scores.
Just like JAMB, WAEC is gambling with the future of Nigerians. If the majority of the D’s, E’s and F8’s awarded in English are rechecked, WAEC will pay dearly.
Parents also added their voices, questioning how students with excellent grades in other subjects could still fail English.
My daughter got five A1 and two B2, only to get D7 in English and Physics (withheld).
WAEC, please I am begging, help us check the English Language exam again. I can’t accept this result. I struggled so hard to get money and pay for this exam, and now you failed me. This result is affecting my future.
Some went further to call for a complete withdrawal of the 2025 results.
We reject this year’s results, particularly the English and Maths. WAEC, please do the needful to avoid mass protests.
Students wrote English paper in the mid night and yet WAEC failed them.
The students who were robbed and given abysmal grades in English should tag presidency, Minister of education to have an external body revise the whole exam process.
As of now, WAEC has not released any additional explanation regarding the English Language grading or responded to the rising calls for a script review.
