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 figure represents 8.59 per cent of the candidates who took the examination, marking a decline from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
The Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lagos while announcing the release of the 2026 examination results.
Dangut attributed the withheld results to various examination infractions, including the continued use of mobile phones in examination halls despite an existing ban and organised cheating in some schools.
“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 added that some supervisors and invigilators allegedly caught assisting candidates in examination malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education.
A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea.
However, 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat for the examination.
According to WAEC, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Another 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured credits and above in at least five subjects, irrespective of whether English Language and Mathematics were included.
The percentage of candidates who obtained credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, declined by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.
Of the 1,200,514 candidates who achieved credits in English Language and Mathematics, 641,631, representing 32.89 per cent, were female, while 558,883, representing 28.65 per cent, were male.
Overall, 997,267 females, representing 51.12 per cent of candidates, participated in the examination, compared with 953,459 males, representing 48.88 per cent.
WAEC said the results of 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had been fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, were still undergoing processing.
The council disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the 2026 examination.
They included 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates 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 WAEC’s introduction of the format.
Dangut said the council implemented several innovations to improve the examination process, including the Digital Examiner Mark System, designed to speed up the processing of results.
The council also introduced the serialisation of question papers to reduce examination malpractice and launched a new portal through which candidates can generate e-PINs directly to check their results.
The examination was conducted from April 24 to June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners involved in marking at 88 marking venues.
Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, also disclosed that candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding debts were settled.
