THE West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE) for School Candidates, over alleged examination malpractice.
News Point Nigeria reports that the figure, however, represents a decline from the 9.7 per cent recorded in the 2025 examination, indicating a slight reduction in malpractice cases.
The Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, disclosed this on Wednesday while announcing the release of the 2026 examination results in Lagos.
Dangut said the affected results were withheld over various forms of examination malpractice, including the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite an existing ban, as well as 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,” Dangut said.
He added that some supervisors and invigilators found aiding candidates to perpetrate examination malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education.
According to the council, a total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination across Nigeria, the Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat for the examination.
Giving a breakdown of candidates’ performance, Dangut said 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
He further disclosed that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.
According to WAEC, the number of candidates who obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared to the 2025 examination.
Of the 1,200,514 candidates who achieved the benchmark of five credits, including English and Mathematics, 558,883, representing 28.65 per cent, were male, while 641,631, representing 32.89 per cent, were female.
Overall, 997,267 female candidates, representing 51.12 per cent, participated in the examination, while 953,459 male candidates, representing 48.88 per cent, sat for the examination.
Dangut also announced that WAEC had fully processed and released the results of 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination.
He added that the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, were still being processed due to issues currently being resolved.
The council further disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination.
According to WAEC, the special-needs candidates comprised 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
Dangut noted that the 2026 examination marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates following the introduction of the format by the council.
He said WAEC introduced several innovations during the examination, including the Digital Examiner Mark System to improve the speed of result processing, the serialisation of question papers to curb examination malpractice, and a new portal 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 participating in the marking exercise across 88 marking centres nationwide.
Describing the media briefing as his third and final engagement as Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dangut also disclosed that candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were settled.