The West African Examinations Council has announced that 167,486 candidates have withheld WAEC results over alleged malpractice in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
According to Vanguard, the affected candidates represent 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 school candidates who sat the computer-based examination.
The figure marks a decline from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025, representing a reduction of 1.11 percentage points.
Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office Amos Dangut announced the results during a media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday.
Dangut said the council identified different forms of suspected misconduct during the examination. These included candidates using mobile phones inside examination halls despite the existing ban.
WAEC also detected organised cheating in some schools, with allegations that certain supervisors and invigilators assisted candidates.
The examination body said authorities had arrested some officials accused of aiding malpractice. The relevant state ministries of education will handle the disciplinary process involving them.
Mobile phones, organised cheating worry WAEC
Dangut described the growing use of mobile phones during examinations as one of the major challenges confronting the council.
Candidates are prohibited from entering examination halls with phones and other unauthorised electronic devices.
However, some candidates reportedly continued using the devices to obtain answers or communicate during the examination.
WAEC also raised concerns about organised cheating involving schools and examination officials.
The council said such practices threatened the credibility of examination results and undermined candidates who prepared honestly.
The withholding of a result does not automatically amount to a final declaration of guilt. The affected cases are allegations that must pass through WAEC’s established review process.
Over 1.95 million candidates sit examination
A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination.
The participating schools were located in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea.
However, 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat the examination.
WAEC said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had their results fully processed and released.
The results of another 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, were still being processed when the council announced the figures.
The outstanding results may involve technical issues or other matters requiring further processing before publication.
61.54% earn credits in English, Mathematics
WAEC said 1,200,514 candidates obtained credits or higher grades in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The figure represents 61.54 per cent of the candidates who sat the examination.
The performance was 1.42 percentage points lower than the figure recorded in 2025.
Meanwhile, 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.
Credit passes in English and Mathematics remain important for admission into many Nigerian higher institutions.
However, universities and other institutions may impose additional subject requirements based on each applicant’s chosen course.
Female candidates outperform males
Female candidates accounted for the larger share of those who earned five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
WAEC said 641,631 female candidates, representing 32.89 per cent of all participants, met the benchmark.
A total of 558,883 male candidates, representing 28.65 per cent, also secured the required credits.
Overall, 997,267 female candidates participated in the examination, accounting for 51.12 per cent of the total.
Male candidates numbered 953,459, representing 48.88 per cent of those who sat the examination.
Candidates with functional needs participate
WAEC also registered 1,213 candidates with functional needs for the examination.
They included 137 visually impaired candidates and 491 candidates with hearing impairments.
Another 55 candidates were described as having spastic or mental challenges, while 41 had physical disabilities.
The council said it provided the necessary support to enable the candidates to participate in the examination.
WAEC introduces new technology
The 2026 examination was the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates.
WAEC introduced several technological measures to speed up result processing and reduce examination malpractice.
One of the innovations was the Digital Examiner Mark System, which helped examiners mark and process candidates’ work more efficiently.
The council also serialised question papers to make organised cheating and unauthorised sharing more difficult.
Under the system, candidates sitting in the same examination hall may receive questions arranged in different sequences.
WAEC also introduced a portal that allows candidates to generate or recover their result-checking e-PINs directly.
Candidates can use the e-PINs to access their results through the official portal at https://www.waecdirect.org.
More than 102,000 examiners mark papers
The 2026 WASSCE for School Candidates was conducted between April 24 and June 19.
WAEC engaged 102,708 examiners to mark candidates’ scripts across 88 marking venues.
The council said the use of technology helped to accelerate marking and processing without compromising examination standards.
Dangut described the briefing as his third and final results announcement as head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office.
Indebted states may delay candidates’ results
WAEC also warned that candidates sponsored by state governments owing the council could experience delays in accessing their results.
Dangut said the council would not release the results of candidates from indebted states until the governments cleared their outstanding obligations.
The policy applies mainly to states that registered or sponsored candidates but failed to complete the required payments.
Affected candidates may therefore remain unable to access their results even when WAEC has completed processing them.
The council urged governments with outstanding debts to settle them quickly to avoid disrupting candidates’ admission and education plans.
Candidates whose results have been released can check them through https://www.waecdirect.org using their examination number, examination year, serial number and result-checking PIN.
