WAEC Withholds 167,486 2026 WASSCE Results Over Examination Malpractice

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates over alleged examination malpractice.

The withheld results account for 8.59 per cent of the total candidates who wrote the examination, representing an improvement from the 9.7 per cent recorded in the 2025 examination.

The Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, announced the release of the 2026 results during a briefing in Lagos on Wednesday.

According to Dangut, the decision to withhold the results followed the detection of various forms of examination malpractice, including the use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating involving 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.

He added that a number of supervisors and invigilators caught aiding candidates had been arrested and would be subjected to disciplinary measures through the appropriate state ministries of education.

A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually participated.

WAEC disclosed that 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent of those who sat the examination, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

Read Also: FULL LIST: How To Check Your 2026 WAEC Result

The council also said 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.

The performance in five credits including English Language and Mathematics recorded a decline of 1.42 percentage points compared to the 2025 examination.

Of the 1,200,514 candidates who obtained the benchmark five credits including English Language and Mathematics, 558,883 (28.65 per cent) were male, while 641,631 (32.89 per cent) were female.

Overall, 997,267 females (51.12 per cent) and 953,459 males (48.88 per cent) participated in the examination.

WAEC stated that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had their results completely processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates (5.95 per cent) were still undergoing processing.

The council also revealed that 1,213 candidates with special needs took part in the examination, comprising 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.

Dangut said the 2026 examination was the second Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates and featured several technological innovations aimed at enhancing examination administration.

These included the Digital Examiner Mark System to speed up result processing, the serialisation of question papers to minimise examination malpractice, and a new platform that enables candidates to generate e-PINs directly for checking their results.

The examination was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners engaged across 88 marking centres.

Dangut, who described the announcement as his third and final results briefing as Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, also warned that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to the council would not have access to their results until the outstanding debts were settled.