The West African Examinations Council has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those who sat for the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School candidates, over alleged examination malpractice.
The figure, however, is a drop from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
The Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut made this known when he announced the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday.
Dangut said the council withheld the results of those affected due to a number of violations, such as the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls in spite of the ban in place 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, Dangut said.
Some supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates in malpractice had been arrested and would be subjected to disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education, he added.
Performance decomposition
A total of 1,959,668 candidates registered for the examination across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea in 24,207 schools, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat for the examination.
Of the candidates who sat the examination:
1,200,514 candidates (61.54 percent) scored credits and above in five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
A total of 1,687,378 candidates representing 86.50 per cent obtained credits and above in at least five subjects with or without the English Language and Mathematics.
In terms of the percentage of candidates achieving credits in five subjects including English and Mathematics, it declined by 1.42 percentage points compared to the 2025 examination.
Among the 1.2 million candidates who earned credits in English and Mathematics:
558,883 (28.65 per cent) were males.
The female population was 641,631 (32.89 per cent).
Out of total 997,267 females (51.12 per cent) and 953,459 males (48.88 per cent) appeared in the examination.
WAEC said the results of 1,834,695 candidates representing 94.05 per cent had been fully processed and released, while results of 116,031 candidates representing 5.95 per cent were still being processed.
The council further disclosed that 1,213 special needs candidates sat for the examination. They were:
– 137 visually impaired candidates;
491 candidates with hearing impairment.
55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates;
41 candidates with physical disabilities.
Introduction of the 2026 examination was the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates introduced by WAEC.
The council introduced several innovations, including the Digital Examiner Mark System to speed up processing of results, serialisation of question papers to check malpractice and a new portal for candidates to directly generate e-PINs to check their results, Dangut said.
The exam was held between 24 April and 19 June 2026, with 102,708 examiners marking in 88 marking venues
Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as the head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, said candidates sponsored by states that owe the council would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were settled.
