WASSCE: No leakage on any paper, WAEC insists

The West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) has insisted that none of its question paper at the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) was leaked as claimed in some quarters.

The examination, which started on Monday, had been dominated by reports of alleged circulation of leaked question paper of some subjects.

While WAEC had earlier dismissed the report, there were still claims in some quarters suggesting the contrary.

TheCable Lifestyle had on Wednesday reported a claim by Rosemary Ajayi, a digital forensic researcher, that leaked answers to some WASSCE subjects were being shared across some Nigerian WhatsApp groups.

But in a statement by Demainus Ojijeogu, its head of public affairs, the council maintained its earlier stance that there was no leaked question paper.

“There has been no leakage of any paper, whatsoever. Some have even gone ahead to misquote the head of the National Office of WAEC Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Areghan, as confirming the same,” the statement read.

“This is far from the truth and we take very strong exception to it.

“The council’s monitoring/investigations have revealed that some unscrupulous and unpatriotic supervisors/invigilators, and in some cases, candidates, snap the question papers (while the examination is in progress) and forward to their outside collaborators who in turn, provide solutions to the questions which they send to their subscribers via criminally-inclined websites, SMS and WhatsApp, even as this is against our regulation of: use of cell phones in the examination hall is not allowed.”

The exam body also revealed that “some culprits, who were caught in the act in Bauchi, Nasarawa and Rivers states, have been arrested and will be prosecuted.”

WAEC reiterated its commitment to maintaining the trust reposed in the council, while also urging candidates and examination invigilators to shun malpractice.