The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says 61.54 per cent of candidates who sat the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates secured five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics, leaving 38.46 per cent unable to meet the benchmark.
The examination body, however, withheld the results of candidates sponsored by indebted state governments pending the settlement of outstanding payments owed to the council.
The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Dr Amos Dangut, announced this on Wednesday during a press briefing at the Council’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, where he released the results of the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE for school candidates.
The WAEC boss disclosed that 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat for the test conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026.
According to him, 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, were still being processed due to unresolved issues.
He assured that efforts were ongoing to conclude the processing and release the outstanding results within a few days.
Dangut said the affected candidates would not be able to access their results until the defaulting state governments paid their debts to the Council.
He said, “The results of candidates who are sponsored by states indebted to the Council will not be released now until payment is made. We appeal to the concerned to do so to enable the affected schools and candidates to access their results.”
Dangut added that candidates whose results had been released and whose financial obligations had been met could access their results on WAEC’s results portal within 12 hours of the announcement and apply for their digital certificates, which would be available within 48 hours.
He further said 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent of those who sat the examination, obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, noting that the performance represented a 1.42 per cent decline compared to the 2025 examination.
Giving a breakdown of the candidates by gender, Dangut added, “Of this number, 558,883, i.e. 28.65 per cent were male candidates, while 641,631, i.e. 32.89 per cent were female candidates.”
On examination malpractice, he revealed that the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of the total candidature, had been withheld over alleged involvement in various forms of examination malpractice.
He explained that the cases were being investigated and would be considered by the Nigeria Examinations Committee before final decisions were taken.
“Nonetheless, the council, through its collaborative efforts with security operatives, was able to apprehend some of these individuals, and they are already having a taste of their pudding.
“A few supervisors and invigilators who were caught aiding and abetting examination malpractice were also brought to book.
“The council, on its part, through the NEC, will mete out appropriate sanctions to affected supervisors, through the various state Ministries of Education,” he added.
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