Home » WAEC Syllabus » 
Civic Education is one of the four compulsory subjects in every WAEC exam. The exam covers a range of topics related to citizenship, governance, rights and responsibilities, civic participation, and social issues so it’s important you have basic knowledge of these topics.
The Civic Education exam will have two papers; Paper 1 and Paper 2. oth will be in a composite paper and will be written in a sitting.
Paper 1: This will be a 1-hour multiple-choice test consisting of fifty questions drawn from the entire syllabus and will carry 40 marks.
Paper 2: This paper will be a 2-hour essay-type test consisting of three sections: Sections A, B, and C. Each section shall contain three questions. Candidates must answer four questions choosing at least one from each Section. The paper will carry 60 marks.
The sections shall cover the following areas of the syllabus:
Section A: National ethics, discipline, rights and obligation
Section B: Emerging Issues in the society
Section C: Governmental system and processes
| WAEC SYLLABUS FOR CIVIC EDUCATION | ||
| SN | TOPICS | OBJECTIVES |
| THEME | ||
| 1 | Values | 1) Definition, 2) Types, 3) Importance of values to the society. |
| 2 | Citizenship and Nationalism | 1) meaning of citizenship; 2) meaning of citizenship education; 3) goals of citizenship education; 4) duties and obligations of citizens; 5) meaning of nationalism; 6) ways of promoting national consciousness, integrity and unity in the society; 7) the nationalistic roles of individual and groups; 8) identification of local and world civic problems. |
| 3 | Human Rights | 1) meaning of human rights; 2) categories of human rights; 3) characteristics of human rights; 4) meaning and historical background of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); 5) meaning and identification of the seven core freedoms of UDHR; 6) importance of UDHR; 7) roles of individual, groups and government in UDHR; 8) limitations to the exercise of human rights. |
| 4 | Law and Order | 1) definition of Law and Order; 2) features of Law and Order; 3) importance of Law and Order in the society; 4) meaning of constituted authority; 5) types of constituted authority; 6) importance and roles of constituted authority. |
| 5 | Responsible Parenthood | 1) meaning of responsible parenthood; 2) roles of responsible parents; 3) importance of responsible parenthood in national development. |
| 6 | Traffic Regulations | 1) meaning of traffic regulations; 2) traffic regulation and its importance in the society; 3) the roles of the individual and government in maintaining traffic regulations. |
| 7 | Inter- Personal Relationships | 1) meaning of inter-personal relationships; 2) types of interpersonal relationships; 3) skills that promotes interpersonal relationships; 4) meaning of inter communal relationships; 5) importance of inter communal relationships; 6) meaning of inter-communal conflicts. 7) skills for resolving inter-communal conflicts. |
| 8 | Cultism | 1) meaning and origin of cultism; 2) different cult groups in Nigeria and their symbols; 3) reasons for cultism; 4) consequences of cultism; 5) ways of preventing cultism in the society. |
| 9 | Drugs and Drug Abuse | 1) meaning of drug abuse; 2) drugs that can be abused; 3) how drugs are abused; 4) symptoms of drug abuse; 5) behaviours of drug addicts; 6) ways of preventing drug abuse; 7) government agencies working to prevent drug abuse/trafficking and their activities; 8) laws against drug abuse. |
| 10 | Human Trafficking | 1) meaning of human trafficking; 2) causes of human trafficking; 3) effects and consequences of human trafficking; 4) efforts of government and individuals in stopping human trafficking. |
| 11 | Hiv/Aids | 1) meaning of HIV/AIDS; 2) causes of HIV/AIDS; 3) symptoms and effects of HIV/AIDS; 4) prevention of HIV/AIDS; 5) stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS. |
| 12 | Youth Empowerment | 1) meaning of youth empowerment; 2) youth empowerment skills; 3) importance and benefits of youth empowerment skills. 4) efforts of government towards youth empowerment. |
| 13 | Structure and Functions of Government | 1) meaning of government; 2) structure/tiers of government; 3) functions of government. |
| 14 | Democracy, Rule of Law and National Development | 1) meaning, types, and features of democracy; 2) importance of democracy; 3) pillars of democracy; 4) problems of democracy; 5) meaning of rule of law; 6) features of rule of law; 7) importance of rule of law; 8) problems of rule of law; 9) meaning of national development; 10) how democracy and Rule of law promote national development- good governance, employment creation and poverty alleviation etc. |
| 15 | Political Apathy | 1) meaning of political apathy; 2) causes of political apathy; 3) consequences of political apathy; 4) why leaders fail to protect the interests of their followers; 5) how leaders can protect the interests of their followers; 6) ways of discouraging political apathy. |
| 16 | Civil Society and Popular Participation | 1) meaning of popular participation; 2) types of popular participation; 3) the need for popular participation in the society; 4) traditional and modern modes of popular participation; 5) achieving popular participation in politics; 6) meaning of civil society; 7) functions / need for civil society; 8) qualities / characteristics of civil society; i.e. accountability, fairness, justice, equity etc. 9) problems of civil society; i.e. bribery and corruption, inadequate funding, over bearing influence of foreign donors etc. |
| 17 | Public Service in Democracy | 1) meaning of public service; 2) functions of public service; 3) problems of public service; 4) reasons for the shortcomings in the public service; 5) ways of improving the public service. |
The entire exam will last for 3 hours. 1 hour for Paper 1 and 2 hours for Paper 2.
Practice! Practice!! and practice!!! Study past questions. Read the syllabus thoroughly before the exams, study with your peers, and tutorial centres also help.
You don’t have a choice as Civic Education is one of the four compulsory subjects in WAEC.
In all, you will be asked to answer 50 objective questions in Paper 1 and four theory questions from either of the four sections in paper 2.
All the topics in the syllabus above are important as your questions can come from either of them.
The recommended WAEC Civic Education Textbooks are listed on the top page of this article. Some of them include:
-Principles and Practice of Public Administration in Nigeria
-Politics and Administration in Nigeria.
A full list of the textbooks is listed above.
Start studying early enough. Avoid last-minute reading at all costs. Try practising time management before the exams. Endeavour to study past questions as often as possible and get a goodnight rest a day for your exam. Goodluck!
