By Daily Review Online
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates over alleged examination malpractice.
The withheld results represent 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who took the examination, marking a slight improvement from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
Announcing the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, attributed the withheld results to various forms of examination malpractice, including the use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools.
He also disclosed that several supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates during the examination had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the appropriate state ministries of education.
According to WAEC, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 eventually sat for the tests.
The council said 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credit passes in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. Meanwhile, 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 per cent, earned credits in five or more subjects, with or without English and Mathematics.
WAEC noted that the proportion of candidates who secured five credits, including English and Mathematics, dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Of the candidates who sat the examination, 997,267 were female and 953,459 were male. Among those who obtained the required five credits, including English and Mathematics, 641,631 were female, while 558,883 were male.
The council added that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates remained under processing.
WAEC also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination, including visually impaired, hearing-impaired, physically challenged and other candidates requiring special support.
Dangut highlighted several innovations introduced for the 2026 examination, including the Digital Examiner Mark System, serialised question papers to curb malpractice and an upgraded portal that enables candidates to generate e-PINs directly to access their results.
He, however, warned that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to WAEC would not have their results released until the outstanding financial obligations were settled.