Yemi Obafemi
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Wednesday released the results of the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, with 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtaining at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Announcing the results in Lagos, the Head of the WAEC National Office, Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, said the performance reflected a 1.42 percentage-point decline from the 2025 examination.
According to Dangut, 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 eventually sat for the papers.
He said 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent of those who took the examination, obtained at least five credits with or without English Language and Mathematics.
Providing a gender breakdown, Dangut said 558,883 males, representing 28.65 per cent, and 641,631 females, representing 32.89 per cent, achieved five credits, including English and Mathematics. Overall, 953,459 male candidates and 997,267 female candidates participated in the examination.
He disclosed that WAEC had fully processed and released the results of 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, while the results of 116,031 candidates, or 5.95 per cent, remain under processing.
Dangut also said 1,213 candidates with special needs registered for the examination. They included 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 candidates with both spastic and mental disabilities, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
On examination malpractice, the WAEC official said the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those who sat the examination, had been withheld pending investigations. He noted that the figure was lower than the 9.70 per cent recorded in 2025.
“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, despite the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools remain major concerns,” Dangut said.
He added that supervisors and invigilators found assisting candidates in malpractice had been identified and would be sanctioned through the relevant State Ministries of Education.
Dangut further noted that the 2026 examination was the second Computer-Based WASSCE conducted for school candidates and his third and final results briefing as Head of the WAEC National Office.
