33% of CB-WASSCE candidates obtain 5 credits including English, Maths

By Gabriel Dike

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) yesterday released the results of the Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE) for private candidates, 2026 first series with only 33 per cent of the candidates obtaining five credits including in English Language and Mathematics.

WAEC, in a statement signed by the acting Head, Public Affairs, Mrs Moyosola Adesina, said 10,480 candidates sat for the examination at 166 centres spread across the country.

She said the examination took place between Wednesday, January 28, and Saturday, February 14, 2026, while coordination of examiners and marking of answer scripts involving 608 marking examiners were carried out at three marking venues in Lagos, Enugu and Kaduna.

The image-maker of the council said 10,523 candidates, representing 11.49 per cent increase, compared to the 2025 entry figure of 9, 438 enrolled for the examination and 10,480 sat for the private candidates exam in 166 centres.

She said 43 candidates with varying degrees of special needs registered for the examination. Out of this number, 11 were visually-impaired, four had impaired-hearing while four were albinos.

The council stressed that the candidates with special needs were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination.

She said: “Of the total number of 10,480 candidates that sat the examination, 5,106 were males while 5,374 were females, representing 48.72 per cent and 51.28 per cent respectively.”  Adesina explained that out of 8,418 candidates, representing 80.32 per cent had their results fully processed and released while 2,062 candidates, representing 19.68 per cent had a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors traceable to them.

The council noted that efforts were being made to speedily complete the processing to enable the affected candidates to get their results fully processed and released, subsequently.

The analysis of the statistics of the candidates’ performance showed that out of 10,480 candidates that sat the examination, 4,598 candidates, representing 43.87 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics);

According to her, 3,429 candidates representing 32.72 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics

She disclosed that of that number, 1,847 (53.86 per cent) were male candidates, while 1,582, (46.14 per cent) were female candidates.