…withholds 167,486 Results Over Examination Malpractice
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says 61.54% of candidates who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE) for school candidates obtained at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Announcing the release of the results at the council’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, on Wednesday, the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Josiah Dangut, said 1,200,514 of the 1,950,726 candidates who took the examination met the minimum academic requirement for admission into tertiary institutions.
He said the pass rate represented a decline of 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.
Among the successful candidates, 558,883 were male, accounting for 28.65% of the total, while 641,631 were female, representing 32.89%.
WAEC also said 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50%, obtained credit passes in at least five subjects, regardless of whether they passed English Language and Mathematics.
The examination body said it withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59% of those who sat the examination, over allegations of examination malpractice.
Dr Dangut said the figure showed an improvement on the 9.70% recorded in 2025, reflecting a reduction of 1.11 percentage points.
He attributed many of the reported malpractice cases to the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools.
“All the cases are being investigated and reports will be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council for consideration and final decisions. The decisions will thereafter be communicated to the affected candidates through their schools,” he said.
He added that affected candidates would have the opportunity to seek redress through WAEC’s online complaints platform.
According to WAEC, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the 2026 examination, while 1,950,726 eventually sat the tests, which were conducted between 24 April and 19 June.
The council said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05%, had their results fully processed and released.
However, the results of 116,031 candidates, or 5.95%, remain under processing because of unresolved issues affecting one or more subjects. WAEC said it expects the outstanding results to be released within the next few days.
Dr Dangut described the successful conduct of the second computer-based WASSCE for school candidates as a significant milestone in WAEC’s efforts to reduce examination malpractice and improve service delivery through digital innovation.
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