The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 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 participated in the examination, marking a slight improvement from the 9.7 per cent malpractice rate recorded in the 2025 examination.
Announcing the release of the 2026 results in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, Amos Dangut, attributed the sanctions to various forms of examination misconduct, particularly the persistent use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools.
According to Dangut, despite an existing ban on mobile phones during examinations, candidates continued to violate the rule, while some schools coordinated large-scale cheating.
“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools, are other nagging issues,” he said.
He disclosed that several supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates in examination malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary measures through the appropriate state ministries of education.
Performance statistics
WAEC said 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 candidates eventually sat for the papers.
Of those who took the examination, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The council also reported that 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 per cent, secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, irrespective of whether they passed English Language and Mathematics.
However, the proportion of candidates who earned at least five credits, including English and Mathematics, declined by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 results.
Among the successful candidates who met the benchmark of five credits including English and Mathematics, 558,883 were male, representing 28.65 per cent, while 641,631 were female, accounting for 32.89 per cent.
Female candidates slightly outnumbered males in the examination, with 997,267 females (51.12 per cent) participating compared to 953,459 males (48.88 per cent).
WAEC further disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, had their results fully processed and released. Another 116,031 candidates, or 5.95 per cent, are still awaiting processing.
Candidates with special needs
The council said 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination. They comprised 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates, among others.
Digital innovations introduced
The 2026 examination was the second Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates since WAEC introduced the format.
Dangut said the council deployed several technological innovations to strengthen the integrity of the examination process.
These include the Digital Examiner Mark System to speed up result processing, serialisation of question papers to reduce examination malpractice, and a new portal that enables candidates to generate electronic PINs for checking their results.
The examination was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners engaged across 88 marking centres.
Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final media engagement as Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, also warned that candidates sponsored by state governments owing the council would not have access to their results until the outstanding debts were settled.
