NewStats: 3,259,357 , 8,169,881 topics. Date: Saturday, 24 May 2025 at 06:46 PM 1z706z

The National President of the All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Alhaji Muhammad Ibn Musa, has attributed the consistent dominance of Ghanaian students in the annual West African Examinations Council (WAEC) International Excellence Awards to systemic lapses in Nigeria’s education system.

Speaking in an interview, Musa expressed concern over Ghana’s repeat wins in the top three slots of the school-based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) over the past two years, despite Nigeria contributing nearly three-quarters of the total candidates across the WAEC member countries.

“This issue is a serious one, and if I had my way, I wouldn’t even want to talk about it because it implicates all Nigerian teachers,” he said. However, he acknowledged that the problem runs deeper and cannot be attributed to any single group. “I can’t say the fault is solely from the principals or the teachers. They both share the blame, and so do governments, parents, and students.”

Musa explained that many Nigerian students lack the awareness that they are in competition not just within the country, but across the sub-region. “Most of them just want a credit . Once they get that, they feel they’ve done well,” he said, using the analogy, “You can only succeed in taking a donkey to the river, but you can’t force it to drink water.”

He identified parents as part of the challenge, citing a widespread practice of enrolling underage children in secondary schools and pushing them to skip classes.

“Many parents are not bothered about preparing their children adequately for exams. Some even aid them in malpractice,” he noted. He referred to cases where SS3 students score as low as 72 out of 400 in JAMB’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) yet still proceed to write the WASSCE.

According to Musa, the situation is worsened by the students’ poor study habits. “Even with expensive phones, 99.5 per cent of what they are browsing doesn’t relate to their studies, and their parents aren’t concerned,” he said. He added that holiday assignments, once common in public schools, are now rarely given.

Addressing the role of teachers and school s, Musa pointed out a lack of depth in syllabus coverage. “You are given just 45 minutes to take a class, and you spend 20 to 30 minutes discussing partisan politics or unrelated issues,” he said.

He also observed that many students, particularly in Northern Nigeria, resume school late after holidays without repercussions from their parents.

He recalled attending WAEC’s 73rd Annual General Meeting in Liberia last month, where the top three candidates were all Ghanaian.
“It was the same last year in Sierra Leone and even two years ago in Gambia, when only one Nigerian— a girl from Plateau State—made it into the top three,” he said.

Musa pointed out a key difference in secondary education structures, stating that Ghana employs specialised schools based on academic disciplines like science, arts, or commerce. He noted that in Nigeria, however, they operate comprehensive schools, where a single private school, even with limited facilities, can present students for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

Musa acknowledged that the lack of participation among teachers in marking WAEC or NECO examination scripts negatively impacts students’ preparation. He stated that teachers who engage in marking gain a significant advantage, approximately 80 per cent, in understanding the examiners’ expectations and thus better equip their students for the exams.

On teacher development, Musa criticised state governments for abandoning professional training programmes. “It’s difficult to get better results when we keep doing things the same way,” he said. He urged improvements in teaching methods and subject knowledge.

Musa expressed doubts about Nigeria’s preparedness for the digital format of WAEC and NECO exams. He questioned the sustainability of providing necessary equipment, particularly regarding maintenance costs, which he anticipated would fall on parents and students.

He then connected this to the broader issue of Nigeria’s free education policies, suggesting that while many states claim to offer free education, the actual provision of essential resources often falls short of making this claim a reality.

“Almost every state says it runs free education, but how many provide the materials needed to make that claim real?” he questioned.
Musa said ANCOPSS has already called on WAEC Nigeria’s research department to investigate the recurring pattern.

“It means a lot to us that, for two years, no Nigerian student has made the top three despite our numbers. If we don’t produce any again this year, we should all be more worried,” he warned.

https://guardian.ng/features/education/why-ghanaians-dominate-waec-excellence-awards-ahead-of-nigerians-ancopss-president/

The problem with the educational system of this nation is as others affecting our national life -leadership or institutional lapses.

Meanwhile, the leadership problem affecting a nation always starts from the top. Check the problem and correct it.

".......The situation is worsened by the students’ poor study habits. “Even with expensive phones, 99.5 per cent of what they are browsing doesn’t relate to their studies, and their parents aren’t concerned. The holiday assignments, once common in public schools, are now rarely given.... "

Ghanians dey dominate Waec while Nigerians dey dominate TikTok and other useless social media platforms

God abeg oh

Ghana no sabi book reach naija sha..

Exam malpractice don kill our standard of education

Widespread poverty in the country is the root cause of it.

GeneralPula:
Ghana no sabi book reach naija sha..

WAEC says otherwise.

Let's be humble.

Nigerians need to tell themselves the truth.

Ours is to complain, yet we abandon the important factor; diligence and hard work.

May be because Ghanaians eat a lot of eggs which likely boost brain power 🤔

Lol we go Dominate Jollof....


Dominate na Dominate abg


Unless we wan lie to ourselves Ghanaian knows how to teach students I back in the days once people hear you're a Ghanaian doing Coaching Lesson people will flock your Venue and people even prefer Ghanaian teacher for home service den....

nA now things don change everything na home base.....

The set of Nigerian parents that raised the current secondary school students in Nigeria should receive a big part of the blame
Those days even children that were doing fraud will never buy a car and bring it home, dem go park that car somewhere then walk home everyday to sleep under the roof of their father and mother. The parents had that much control, these days those parents are yahoo OGs themselves, mothers go dey use their fine daughters attack yahoo boys to come patronize from their business

naija nah zooo..... Mazi kanu

Abeg make una let me us hear word. Teachers are the laziest government workers in Nigeria. They give too much excuse for their laziness.

During my high school days, my maths teacher was a Cocoa merchant, he came to school whenever he wished.

My Geography teacher was into Timber cutting. She hardly came to school, many of them were into other businesses and prioritized those businesses over teaching,

My English teacher was always scared to mark me wrong in tests or classwork. Imagine if I chosed A he would mark it correct and his own correct answer might be B. So he would also mark those that chosed B as correct. He was afraid of me disgracing him coz he knew I would prove how and why my own answer was the correct one 😂.

The only serious teacher we had them was a newly employed graduate that was teaching us Biology and Chemistry,I heard he too later started timber business 2yrs after we graduated from the school.

Our physics teacher used to do direct copy of Okeke textbook into his note without changing anything, including the examples.

Economics teachers always gave her lesson note to the girls with good handwriting to write for us and she wouldn't even come to explain the topics later. What helped me then was having most of the textbooks and bcoz of all their ways I stopped coming to school. Coz it's like wasting of time.

I studied with my textbooks at home and only went to right tests and exams.

Except in mathematics I always scored the highest marks in both tests and exams. That's why till today maths is not my friend. Coz I always find it difficult to study it independently and it's the only C grade I used to have.

Sorry for my long story. Ghana educational system is not all that better coz I've seen teachers doing same thing my teachers were doing then but if they're preparing for WASSCE OR BECE, omo it's like preparing for war. JHS3 students preparing for BECE hardly have time for other things some will get home by 7pm-8pm.

Before the exams Ghanaian teacher will rush them and covered the syllabus.

During my time I saw many questions that were not covered in my textbooks.

Sonnobax15:

Ghanians dey dominate Waec while Nigerians dey dominate TikTok and other useless social media platforms

God abeg oh

TikTok is not the problem. Nigerians are not the only people on TikTok.

The issue is that there is no incentive for these students to study hard. When the head is rotten, you cannot blame the feet. These students see their parents, who ed JAMB, struggle to pay school fees. They also see complete dullards who struggle with the English language become governors. They observe nonentities and road traffic thugs command more respect and honor than their teachers and professors.

They see total dullards and criminals with nearly empty heads rise from nothing to Aso Rock, while their parents wey carry book for head struggle to provide basic things like egg and milk.

Teach and sweat all you want; nothing will change until your professors stop rigging elections for vagabonds who forge certificates and cannot construct proper sentences. Your leaders must model the society they want through their own conduct. All that 'do as I say' nonsense belongs to the 16th century.

GeneralPula:
Ghana no sabi book reach naija sha..

You sef
You are under a thread that say Ghanians are better, yet still saying otherwise. Or you believe WAEC is lieing?
Truth be told, of recent, Education in Nigeria has dwindled. Many even calling for skills instead of normal education because they believe that skills are better, relying on just few exceptions to deceive people. Yes skill is good but best when acquired together with orthodox education. You can't be a Medical Doctor or a Pharmacist or a Lawyer by acquiring mere skills.
Social media and Bad political leadership plus parents lack of concern about their wards academics activities are other strong factors militating against good academic performance in Nigeria

Tik tok and yahoo.

Their public secondary education is not in a mess like our own.. thanks to the state governors..

Their public primary and secondary education is still very standard.. hasn't been taken over by private Capitalists like our own..

They don't have miracles centres in half of the country schools like our own..

Half of the secondary students have not been taken over by social media like our own..

Their primary and secondary schools students are being taught by trained teachers not makeshift teachers and emegency PTA teachers like we have across the country here..

There is need for a declaration of State of Emergency on Primary and Secondary education in Nigeria. Those in charge of that are too busy stealing money to care.

It's surprising to hear that Ghana is doing better than us in WAEC examinations even with the level of examination malpractices in Nigeria may be examinations malpractice in Ghana is greater than that of Nigeria own.

I am not surprised at all. Hope we all what happened two weeks ago in this gademn country called Nigeria where parents took their wards to write JAMB or WAEC and all the parents gathered together and started praying, singing and begging and appealing to devils and demons to allow their children the correct answers and also to guide them to very well. How can they when 99% of their time is spent on TikTok showing breasts and shaking Bum Bum while the boys rather engage in Yahoo plus plus and truancy all over the place....just a small percentage of Naija secondary school and University students reads.....they don't believe in education any longer just as that Bokoharam governor of Bauchi has said that education can't take you anywhere in life.....

Parents should address themselves and stop this attitude of going spiritual, speaking in tongues at your wards exam centers appealing to that force to help them to ....if you don't encourage them to read very well, then forget about praying for them to or expecting a miracle from above.....

By the way, what do we even expect from the parents of nowadays. Most parents are into Yahoo Yahoo, so many mothers are Olosho plus plus....many don't believe in working to get your reward. Many are born thieves like those politicians and leaders. Parenting aren't a worthy cause any longer, it's been thrown to the dogs.

The children don't have a role model to look up to any longer, how can you have a role model when your father has stolen the Treasury of your country black and blue and he's been carried from one DSS, EFCC to another, one jail to another while your mother's focused is in hiding some of those wealth your father has stolen from his country....it's endemic and highly critically to think about all these..... solution seems so elusive.....

..

Government has to prioritize education and ensure quality teachers are available and well paid. These days when people have tried and don't get any good job, they just look for a private school to teach without being trained and the knowledge of the subject may also be questionable. Discipline has to also come back to schools so students take their studies seriously. It's an intentional thing if we really want to get it right education wise.

Dear Nigerians, your tears is just starting. Wait until the remaining institutions has been completly destroyed, then maybe everyone can come together and ask what's going on in the country.


For now, keep up playing the circus game 🤡

This is a serious matter

tunapawizzy:
The set of Nigerian parents that raised the current secondary school students in Nigeria should receive a big part of the blame
Those days even children that were doing fraud will never buy a car and bring it home, dem go park that car somewhere then walk home everyday to sleep under the roof of their father and mother. The parents had that much control, these days those parents are yahoo OGs themselves, mothers go dey use their fine daughters attack yahoo boys to come patronize from their business

God bless you for this comment
Couldn’t have said it any better

GeneralPula:
Ghana no sabi book reach naija sha..

who told you that? Back then in the 80s and 90s, Ghanaian teachers dominated the educational sector in Nigeria. They were the best in teaching students. My primary school teachers were Ghanaians. I was very good in mathematics because of my Ghanaian teacher.

Dem sabi book die!!

Nigerians young and old are looking for money without productivity. It really sad many billionaires without source of income. Shameful

Secondary school students competing for who own the latest iPhone, yet no single text book from SS2 to SS3. Parents eager to buy smart phones for students but refusing/reluctant to buy textbooks, they deliberately put children in mushroom schools, with the hope of taking them to special centre to clear WAEC once.

Tinubu's regime wants to try everything they can to get things working. Good job but they shouldn't forget hunger full everywhere.

How many times will I tell you people that Nigeria don baje?

Ehn how many times?

Why won't Ghana be topping Nigeria in WAEC when federal, state, traditional, lga leaders are sponsoring insecurity, terrorism and kidnapping?

All aspects will surely decline

Nigerians not elite please, can no longer afford basic needs, they can't afford protein to be able to feed properly.

For gawd sake people have now resorted to eating lizards!