Torchlight Education: The WAEC Blackout That Exposed Nigeria’s Failing Commitment to Its Youth.

On the night of May 28, 2025, a scene played out in Nigeria that should never have happened in any country claiming to value education: young students many sitting for the most critical exam of their lives were hunched over papers, writing by torchlight and candlelight. The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) English paper, scheduled for 4:00 PM, was delayed in several states until as late as 10:00 PM due to logistical failures and alleged security concerns.

Videos and photos that surfaced on social media showed teenagers scribbling answers in near-total darkness. Some sat on bare floors. Others shielded flickering flames from the wind to see their answer booklets. Their weary faces told a story not just of fatigue but of a deeply broken system.

And yet, these images are more than just viral moments of embarrassment they are mirrors reflecting Nigeria’s gross failure to uphold the most basic standards of public education.

A National Embarrassment Unfolds

The backlash was swift. Parents, educationists, and concerned citizens expressed fury and sadness. “My son is still writing the exam,” one anxious mother said at 9:45 PM in Osun State. “I can’t sleep. I’ve come to the school gate to wait for him. He can’t walk home alone in this kind of country.”

WAEC officials, in a public apology, cited efforts to prevent examination malpractice as one reason for the delays. According to the West African Examinations Council, logistical issues and “security concerns” contributed to the crisis. But even this explanation falls short of addressing the core problem: why must a generation of Nigerian students constantly bear the consequences of administrative negligence and government apathy?

The Systemic Rot Beneath the Surface

This debacle is not a one-off misstep it is the latest chapter in a long narrative of dysfunction.

The causes are many, and they intersect in damaging ways:

1. Power Infrastructure Collapse Most exam centers lacked backup generators, relying on unstable public electricity. The fact that no contingency plans were in place to accommodate this predictable failure is a testament to poor planning.

2. Operational Inefficiency Exam materials arrived late in multiple locations. In some centers, examiners were reportedly unsure of protocols. This points to chronic logistical mismanagement especially tragic for a national exam meant to test preparedness.

3. Security Concerns Nigeria's growing insecurity, especially in rural and northern regions, is eroding even basic civic functions like public schooling. Conducting exams at night further exposed students to risks, from kidnappings to assault, creating a hostile learning environment.

4. Psychological Trauma The emotional toll on students cannot be overstated. For many, the WASSCE is a life-defining event. Sitting for such an exam in fear, hunger, darkness, and exhaustion erodes confidence and affects performance. The implication? A future potentially altered by systemic cruelty disguised as negligence.

A Moral and Institutional Failure

This is not just a failure of WAEC; it is a failure of governance. It is a failure of the Ministry of Education, state governments, and federal infrastructure managers. For every child forced to write an exam by torchlight, there is a policy-maker somewhere who failed to anticipate, plan, or care.

And when a nation cannot guarantee lighting and basic dignity for its children during an exam, it should pause and ask itself: What exactly are we preparing them for?

What Must Be Done: A Blueprint for Accountability

We cannot allow this to pass with apologies alone. Here’s what must happen now:

• Permanent Examination Infrastructure Reforms Every registered WAEC center must have functioning electricity backups, certified weeks before exams begin.

• Decentralized Exam Monitoring Independent oversight teams must be empowered to ensure real-time monitoring and reporting on exam delivery.

• Digital Integration WAEC should pilot digital exam tools in well-equipped schools to reduce physical delivery delays and increase security.

• Trauma Support for Affected Students Counseling, makeup tests, or adjusted grading should be considered for students who were clearly disadvantaged by this disruption.

• Transparent Public Inquiry Nigerians deserve answers. Who was responsible for the delay? Where were the failures? A transparent probe must lead to accountability, not just rhetoric.

Conclusion: Will We Light the Way or Keep Students in the Dark?

The students who wrote their exams in darkness this week are not just victims of an exam board’s incompetence—they are the latest casualties of a system that continues to treat education as an afterthought. And while they lit their own way with torchlights, we must now ask:

Will Nigeria finally shine a light on these injustices—or will the next generation continue to write their futures in the dark?