More than 1.5 million Nigerian students sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) each year, and any misstep in the planned nationwide rollout of Computer-Based Testing (CBT) by 2026 risks jeopardising the future of these young people.
Development Diaries reports that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) recently announced plans to migrate the WASSCE to full CBT by 2026.
According to the Head of National Office, Amos Dangut, the transition, which began with private candidates in 2024, had recorded ‘significant progress’ and would be scaled up nationwide.
While the move towards digital examinations is commendable for its potential to curb malpractice and speed up results, the reality of Nigeria’s poor digital infrastructure, persistent power shortages, and uneven access to technology raises serious concerns about fairness and inclusivity.
According to data from Nigeria’s telecommunications sector, only about 38 percent of Nigerians have internet access, meaning roughly 136 million people remain unconnected, especially in rural communities.
A Statista report shows that despite an internet penetration rate of around 45 percent, the number of internet users in Nigeria is around 107 million.
As lawmakers have rightly cautioned, Nigeria’s glaring infrastructural gaps, uneven digital literacy, and poor access to technology in rural communities present a real risk of exclusion for millions of students if the rollout is rushed without adequate preparation.
A credible exam system must balance innovation with fairness and inclusivity.
The Federal Ministry of Education, under Tunji Alausa, needs to take the lead in ensuring this transition is carefully managed.
A transparent roadmap is needed, one that prioritises investments in rural areas, where students are most vulnerable to exclusion, and spells out how digital literacy will be mainstreamed across schools.
Without such deliberate groundwork, WAEC’s good intentions could deepen existing inequalities in the education system.
Equally critical is collaboration with state governments and local governments to establish at least one functional CBT centre in each of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
Teachers must be adequately trained, and students given opportunities to practice with digital mock exams. A hybrid system, allowing students to choose between traditional paper-based and CBT methods in the early years of the rollout, would be a pragmatic approach that protects those who may not yet be computer literate.
Development Diaries therefore calls on WAEC, the Minister of Education, Alausa, and the National Assembly Committees on Education to ensure the digital transition is inclusive, phased, and properly resourced, because no child should be left behind in the pursuit of progress.
