Friday, July 3, 2026

Exam Malpractice: We didn’t create ‘Miracle Centres’, says WAEC

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) says it will do everything possible to stop special centres, also known as ‘Miracle Centres’ candidates use.

• August 27, 2021
Secondary school-student
Photo of secondary school-students used to illustrate this story (Photo credit: The Guardian Nigeria)

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) says it will do everything possible to stop special centres, also known as ‘Miracle Centres’ candidates use.

Eucharia Onodu, WAEC’s zonal coordinator in Enugu, stated this at a roundtable to end examination malpractice during the West African School Certificate Examination and the National Examination Council (NECO).

“We use unique continuous assessment of candidates to identify candidates during exam registration. Miracle centres are not the making of WAEC, and we are working seriously to stop it,” said the WAEC official. “WAEC does not register any candidate without the approval from the Ministry of Education. We have data of all the schools, and if a school is coming for registration, we make sure the ministry of education endorses it.”

The zonal coordinator reiterated that WAEC would sanction schools suspected of foul play.

On Thursday, stakeholders in education had converged in Enugu to brainstorm on various ways to end examination malpractice in private schools during external exams.

Bursting the Myths of Miracle Examination Centre’s principal investigator, Uzoma Okoye, said, “We have analysed the data collated during our first stakeholders’ meeting, and we are presenting the results for them to pledge as individuals or groups on how to end examination malpractices.”

Mr Okoye revealed that his group would partner the Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) to end exam frauds.

“So we are partnering with ACE to see if we can find the root of the problem and identify the best ways to solve it,” he noted. “And if we think it does not affect us, the children unborn will bear the consequences.”

(NAN)

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