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The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has faulted the Federal Government’s directive mandating a full transition to computer-based testing (CBT) for WAEC and NECO examinations by 2026.
NUT National President, Comrade Audu Amba, said during an interview in Abuja that a transition to CBT will not end examination malpractice in the country. He added that the real issue driving malpractice is the overemphasis on paper qualifications.
Amba said the Nigerian society places too much value on certificates and grades without considering the actual intelligence or capacity of the student.
He said this obsession pushes students and sometimes their parents to go to extreme lengths to obtain results they cannot defend.
“We have placed more emphasis on certificates. What is your grade? What is your scores? Not minding the intellectual intelligence of that student.
“The students will go out of their way to make sure that they get the marks that will give them the certificate,” he said.
Amba also expressed concerns about the readiness of schools, especially in rural areas, to implement CBT-based exams.
He questioned the availability of power, internet connection, and trained personnel in many parts of the country.
“We are talking about CBT exams. Where is the light, manpower and network? You see, we have a long way to go.
“How many of our teachers in our localities are even computer literate? We don’t sit down within the city and give a directive that cannot be implemented.
“In my village, for instance, the network ceases. You can’t get it until you get to a particular place, and so it is in many of our villages.
“There are also some of our students who have not seen a computer before, not to mention operating it,” he said.
Comrade Audu Amba decryed the persistent neglect of teachers, especially at the primary school level. He noted that teachers remain the most disregarded professionals in the country despite their foundational role in nation-building.
“Teachers in Nigeria are the most marginalised set of people. While every professional is given the necessary attention by the government, teachers are not, most especially the primary school teachers,” Amba said.
He pointed to the prolonged strike action by primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as evidence of the government’s indifference to teachers’ welfare.
“As we are right now in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the primary school teachers have been on strike for so many months. I think this should be the fourth time they have gone on strike because of N70,000 minimum wage, which has been implemented for virtually every civil servant in the FCT,” he added.
Amba described it as ironic that those now in leadership positions, so many of whom were taught by these same teachers, have become the ones undermining the teaching profession.
The NUT president stressed that teachers live under the same economic realities as everyone else and deserve equal treatment.
“We go to the same market, belong to the same community, pay the same house rent, go to the same hospital, just like any other Nigerians,” he said.
He called on the government to urgently prioritise funding for basic education, describing it as the bedrock of the entire education system.
The Federal Government announced earlier this year that WAEC and NECO will fully transition to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for all examinations starting from the May/June 2026 cycle.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, revealed that both examination bodies would begin administering their objective questions via CBT as early as November 2025.
Alausa said the full implementation, covering both multiple-choice and essay papers, would take effect by May/June 2026, with the goal of eliminating examination malpractices.
