The West African Examinations Council has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 computer-based West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates over alleged malpractice.
Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, announced the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday. The withheld results account for 8.59 per cent of candidates who wrote the examination, a slight drop from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.
Dangut linked the infractions to the continued use of mobile phones in exam halls despite a ban and to 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,” he said.
He noted that several supervisors and invigilators caught aiding malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through state ministries of education.
A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the exam, with 1,950,726 eventually sitting the papers.
Of those who sat, 1,200,514 candidates, or 61.54 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects including English Language and Mathematics. Overall, 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured credits in five subjects with or without English and Mathematics.
WAEC said 1,834,695 results had been fully processed and released, while 116,031 others were still being processed. A further 1,213 candidates with special needs took part in the examination.
Dangut said the second computer-based edition of the school candidates’ WASSCE introduced measures including serialised question papers and a new portal for e-PIN result checking. He also warned that results of candidates sponsored by state governments still owing WAEC would remain withheld until the debts were cleared.
