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The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, with 61.54 per cent of candidates obtaining at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.
Announcing the results in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of WAEC National Office, Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, said 1,200,514 candidates achieved the benchmark required for admission into tertiary institutions. He noted that the performance represents a 1.42 per cent decline compared to the 2025 examination.
According to the council, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, the Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 eventually sat for the tests.
WAEC disclosed that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects, irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
A breakdown of the results showed that of the candidates who secured five credits, including English and Mathematics, 558,883 were male, while 641,631 were female. Overall, 953,459 male and 997,267 female candidates participated in the examination.
The council said it had successfully processed and released the results of 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, while the results of 116,031 candidates, or 5.95 per cent, are still being processed.
WAEC also revealed that 1,213 candidates with special needs registered for the examination, including visually impaired, hearing-impaired, physically challenged and other candidates requiring special support.
On examination malpractice, the council withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of the total, over alleged involvement in various forms of examination misconduct. The figure is lower than the 9.7 per cent recorded in the previous year.
Dr. Dangut attributed the malpractice cases largely to the illegal use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools. He added that supervisors and invigilators found aiding malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant State Ministries of Education.
He noted that the 2026 examination was the second computer-based WASSCE for school candidates and highlighted new innovations introduced by WAEC, including the Digital Examiner Mark System (DEMS), serialised question papers to curb malpractice and an online platform that enables candidates to generate e-PINs for checking their results.
