By Omoyeni Ojeifo
Thousands of students aspiring to enter higher education have been thrown into limbo after the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) withheld 167,486 results due to alleged exam malpractice during the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE.
Declaring the results in Lagos on Wednesday, Dr. Amos Dangut, Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, revealed that the seized results account for 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat the examination.
While still significant, this reflects a drop from the 9.7 per cent malpractice rate recorded in 2025.
PerSecondNews recalls that the 2026 WASSCE for school candidates ended on Friday, June 19, starting on Tuesday, April 21
Dangut said the affected results were withheld over various examination infractions, including the growing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite the ban and organised cheating in some schools.
He said some supervisors and invigilators caught assisting candidates to cheat had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant 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 test.
However, 1,950,726 candidates actually sat the examination.
According to the council, 1,200,514 candidates (61.54 per cent) achieved five credits or above, including English Language and Mathematics.
Another 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured credits and above in at least five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.
The council noted that the proportion of candidates who obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics, dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.
Of the 1,200,514 candidates who achieved the benchmark, 641,631, representing 32.89 per cent, were female.
Overall, 997,267 females, representing 51.12 per cent, and 953,459 males, representing 48.88 per cent, participated in the examination.
WAEC said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had their results fully processed and released.
The results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, are still being processed and will be released after the exercise is completed.
The council also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination.
Dangut said the 2026 examination marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates.
He noted that WAEC introduced the Digital Examiner Mark System, serialised question papers to curb malpractice, and a new portal allowing candidates to generate e-PINs directly for result checking.
A total of 102,708 examiners participated in the marking exercise conducted across 88 marking venues.
Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, warned that candidates sponsored by indebted state governments would not have their results released until outstanding debts were cleared.
The council further provided guidelines for candidates to generate the Serial Number and PIN needed to check their 2026 WASSCE results.
“Candidates have been advised to visit waec.org and select the “Serial Number and PIN” menu on the homepage.
“They should choose the appropriate examination year and diet, then enter their examination number and the same National Identification Number (NIN) used during registration.
“Candidates are also required to provide their email address and phone number to receive a One-Time Password (OTP).
“After entering the OTP, they can recover their Serial Number and PIN and use the details to check their results,” it stated.
WAEC added that candidates can also download their WAEC ID Card to their mobile devices.
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