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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.
Announcing the release of the 2026 results in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, said the withheld results represent 8.59 per cent of the total candidates who wrote the examination. He noted, however, that the figure reflects a slight improvement from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
Dangut attributed the infractions to the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite existing restrictions, as well as 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 several supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates in examination malpractice 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 papers.
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The council disclosed that 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. A total of 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 per cent, earned credits in five subjects with or without English and Mathematics.
WAEC also revealed that 1,834,695 candidates had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 others were still being processed.
The examination body further announced that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the exercise, including visually impaired, hearing-impaired, physically challenged and mentally challenged candidates.
Dangut said the 2026 examination, the second edition of the computer-based WASSCE for school candidates, featured innovations such as the Digital Examiner Mark System, serialised question papers to curb malpractice, and a new portal that allows candidates to generate e-PINs for checking their results.
He also warned that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to WAEC would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were settled.
