Employees under the umbrella of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions on Wednesday started a three-day nationwide protest against the management of the West African Examinations Council over unsolved well-being issues and declared unjust labour practices.
The demonstration began at WAEC’s national head office in Yaba, Lagos, around 8:00 a.m., with comparable demonstrations occurring simultaneously throughout the council’s regional and state workplaces across the country.
The commercial action followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum earlier released by NASU management to WAEC management over nine unsolved needs, consisting of concerns surrounding personnel welfare and declared abnormalities in recruitment treatments.
The protest comes as WAEC Nigeria and 4 other member countries, 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 assured stakeholders that adequate measures had been presented to ensure the smooth conduct of the assessment and avoid a repeat of the functional problems experienced throughout the 2025 edition.
Regardless of this guarantee, opposing workers maintained that the action ended up being essential due to management’s failure to attend to longstanding grievances.
The employees’ demands were laid out in a letter dated May 5, 2026, resolved to Dangut by the NASU national body.
The letter, signed by NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, was entitled, “Re: A Require Immediate Stop to the Shady Recruitment Interview Practices.”
According to the union, management failed to address the issues raised within the stated seven-day period, triggering the beginning of the protest.
Part of the letter mentioned that branch executive officers had actually expressed discontentment that issues previously communicated to management remained unresolved and had caused extra issues requiring immediate attention.
Speaking throughout the protest, Chairman of NASU-WAEC, Kayode Ogunyade, said the action, arranged to run daily from 7:30 a.m. to noon for 3 days, was aimed at compelling management to resume negotiations with the union.
According to him, the demonstration also acts as a caution over what employees described as increasing aggravation among staff members.
Read also:
WAEC guarantees candidates of glitch-free 2026 WASSCE
WAEC Releases First Batch of 2026 CB-WASSCE Results for Private Candidates
Ogunyade cautioned that failure to attend to the concerns could signify management’s hesitation to resolve the conflicts, including that any further action after the protest would be identified by NASU’s national leadership.
Reacting to the development, WAEC, through its Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, guaranteed prospects, parents, school owners, and other stakeholders that the ongoing WASSCE would continue without disturbance.
The council stated that evaluation activities had remained uninterrupted regardless of the demonstration by some workers.
WAEC likewise worried that it respects the rights of workers and labour unions to reveal complaints quietly within the arrangements of the law, adding that management had actually already initiated measures to resolve the problems raised.
The council even more discussed that recent changes to examination days arised from the reduction of topics from 76 to 38 and the adoption of a modified hybrid evaluation structure.
It also dismissed accusations connecting to indiscriminate dismissal of employees and unfair disciplinary actions, insisting that all disciplinary steps were performed in accordance with the organisation’s staff regulations and statutory provisions.
WAEC added that the engagement of agreement Evaluation Officers and Assistant Evaluation Officers was part of more comprehensive efforts to manage increasing work and improve functional effectiveness across member nations.
The examination body kept in mind that conversations with the union were continuous and assured the public that arrangements had been put in place to ensure that the evaluation schedule stayed untouched.
WAEC likewise prompted Nigerians to overlook rumours capable of producing panic over the conduct of the ongoing assessment, declaring its dedication to keeping credible and reputable evaluation procedures across the country.