Employees under the umbrella of the Non-Academic Personnel Union of Educational and Associated Organizations on Wednesday began a three-day across the country protest versus the management of the West African Examinations Council over unresolved well-being issues and alleged unfair labour practices.
The demonstration commenced at WAEC’s nationwide head office in Yaba, Lagos, around 8:00 a.m., with comparable protests occurring all at once throughout the council’s local and state workplaces nationwide.
The industrial action followed the expiration of a seven-day warning previously issued by NASU management to WAEC management over 9 unsolved demands, including concerns surrounding personnel welfare and declared abnormalities in recruitment procedures.
The protest comes as WAEC Nigeria and 4 other member nations, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia continue the continuous 2026 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Assessment involving 1,959,636 prospects from 24,207 schools throughout Nigeria.
Earlier in the week, WAEC’s Head of National Workplace, Amos Dangut, had ensured stakeholders that adequate procedures had actually been presented to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination and prevent a repeat of the functional issues experienced throughout the 2025 edition.
Despite this guarantee, opposing employees preserved that the action became essential due to management’s failure to deal with longstanding grievances.
The workers’ needs were described in a letter dated Might 5, 2026, dealt with to Dangut by the NASU national body.
The letter, signed by NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, was entitled, “Re: A Call For Immediate Stop to the Shady Recruitment Interview Practices.”
According to the union, management failed to resolve the concerns raised within the stipulated seven-day duration, prompting the beginning of the demonstration.
Part of the letter specified that branch executive officers had revealed discontentment that concerns earlier communicated to management stayed unresolved and had caused extra concerns needing urgent attention.
Speaking throughout the protest, Chairman of NASU-WAEC, Kayode Ogunyade, said the action, scheduled to run daily from 7:30 a.m. to twelve noon for three days, was targeted at engaging management to resume negotiations with the union.
According to him, the demonstration likewise works as a caution over what employees described as increasing aggravation among workers.
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Ogunyade alerted that failure to attend to the concerns could indicate management’s objection to resolve the disagreements, including that any further action after the demonstration would be identified by NASU’s national management.
Reacting to the advancement, WAEC, through its Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, assured candidates, parents, school owners, and other stakeholders that the continuous WASSCE would continue without disruption.
The council stated that evaluation activities had remained continuous in spite of the demonstration by some workers.
WAEC likewise stressed that it respects the rights of staff members and labour unions to reveal grievances peacefully within the arrangements of the law, including that management had currently started procedures to attend to the issues raised.
The council even more described that current changes to examination days arised from the reduction of topics from 76 to 38 and the adoption of a revised hybrid examination structure.
It also dismissed accusations associating with indiscriminate termination of workers and unreasonable disciplinary actions, firmly insisting that all disciplinary steps were performed in accordance with the organisation’s staff policies and statutory arrangements.
WAEC included that the engagement of agreement Evaluation Officers and Assistant Examination Officers belonged to broader efforts to manage increasing workloads and enhance functional effectiveness throughout member nations.
The examination body kept in mind that conversations with the union were continuous and assured the general public that plans had been put in location to ensure that the evaluation timetable remained unaffected.
WAEC also advised Nigerians to neglect rumours capable of producing panic over the conduct of the ongoing evaluation, reaffirming its dedication to preserving reliable and reliable examination procedures throughout the country.