The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates over alleged examination malpractice in the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates.
The affected candidates account for 8.59 per cent of the total number of candidates who sat the examination, representing a slight improvement from the 9.7 per cent malpractice rate recorded in 2025.
The development was announced on Wednesday in Lagos by the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, during the official release of the 2026 examination results.
Dangut attributed the withheld results to various forms of examination malpractice, noting that the persistent use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools remain major challenges confronting the council.
“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,” Dangut said.
He disclosed that some supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates during the examination had been apprehended and would be sanctioned through the appropriate state ministries of education.
Performance Statistics
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 candidates eventually sat for the tests.
Analysis of the results showed that 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credit passes in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The council also revealed that 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 per cent, secured credits in a minimum of five subjects, irrespective of whether English Language and Mathematics were included.
However, the proportion of candidates who earned at least five credits, including English and Mathematics, declined by 1.42 percentage points compared to the previous year’s performance.
Among the 1.2 million candidates who achieved the benchmark of five credits, including English and Mathematics, 558,883 (28.65 per cent) were male, while 641,631 (32.89 per cent) were female.
Overall participation figures showed that 997,267 females, representing 51.12 per cent, sat for the examination, compared to 953,459 males, who accounted for 48.88 per cent.
WAEC further disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who wrote the examination, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates, or 5.95 per cent, were still undergoing processing.
The examination also featured 1,213 candidates with special needs. They comprised 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
The 2026 examination was the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates following the introduction of the format by WAEC.
Dangut said the council deployed several innovations to improve the conduct of the examination and speed up result processing. These include the Digital Examiner Mark System, the serialisation of question papers to curb malpractice, and a new online platform that enables candidates to generate e-PINs directly for checking their results.
The examination was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners participating in the marking exercise across 88 centres nationwide.
Speaking at what he described as his third and final media briefing as Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dangut also warned that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to the council would not have access to their results until the outstanding financial obligations were settled.
(Ripples)