WASSCE MESS: ATIKU DEMANDS RETAKE, SLAMS EXAM CONDITIONS AS NATIONAL DISGRACE

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By Oduola F.A.

Former Vice President and 2023 PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has slammed reports of students writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in poorly lit, unsuitable environments, calling the situation a “national disgrace.”

In a strongly worded Facebook post on Thursday, Atiku condemned the development as “unacceptable, unjustifiable, and utterly indefensible.”

He decried the fact that such a failure in basic educational infrastructure occurred just a day after the world marked International Children’s Day, saying it underscores the depth of neglect in the country’s education sector.

“This is not merely an unfortunate incident — it is a damning indictment of our systemic failure to uphold the most basic standards in public education. That in 2025, our children are forced to write critical national exams in pitch darkness like second-class citizens is beyond shameful,” Atiku said.

The former vice president called for an immediate retake of the affected examination paper in all compromised centres, stating that anything short of this would be a “grave injustice” to the students whose academic futures are at stake.

“Examination preparedness is a shared responsibility between students and examination authorities. In this case, it is glaringly evident that the latter have failed spectacularly in their duty. It would be utterly unjust to allow students to suffer the consequences of such gross institutional negligence,” he stated.

Atiku further called for urgent and sustained investments in education and critical infrastructure, demanding that authorities enforce minimum environmental and infrastructural standards for all future high-stakes national examinations.

“We must never allow such a shameful scenario to repeat itself — not under our watch,” he concluded.