FG To Fully Transition WAEC, NECO Exams To CBT By 2026 – Education Minister

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to fully transition major national examinations, including those conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO), to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) by 2026.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, gave this assurance on Wednesday while monitoring the conduct of WAEC’s ongoing CBT examinations in Abuja.

Dr. Alausa praised WAEC’s efforts in piloting the shift from the traditional pen-and-paper format to digital testing, describing it as a landmark reform in Nigeria’s education sector.

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“This is a historic step toward ensuring fairness and integrity in our examination system,” he stated. “We are working very hard to eliminate fraud, and WAEC is taking the lead.”

The minister highlighted the significant advantages of the CBT format, noting its ability to streamline the examination process and drastically reduce instances of malpractice.

“We now have clear evidence that when exams are done using technology, the level of fraud is minimised to almost zero,” he said.

He also lauded WAEC’s internal security systems, explaining that the CBT is conducted via a secured Local Area Network (LAN), which makes hacking virtually impossible.

According to Dr. Alausa, all WAEC multiple-choice papers will be administered using CBT by November 2025, with essay-based questions and NECO exams to follow suit by 2026.

While acknowledging existing infrastructural challenges, especially in remote areas, he assured that scalable solutions are underway.

“Are we going to be ready to provide every single needed infrastructure by November? Absolutely not. But as we move into the future, we will be ready. We have to challenge ourselves as a government,” he said.

The minister also addressed concerns regarding logistics, especially the complexity of administering multiple subjects per candidate.

“In WAEC, the average student takes about eight to nine papers over several days. Those are the logistics we, as administrators, have to work through — and we already are,” he added.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the ongoing WAEC examinations, which began on April 24, are scheduled to end on June 20, 2025.

A total of 1,973,253 candidates from 23,554 schools are participating, with 979,228 males (49.63%) and 994,025 females (50.37%).