The West African Examinations Council 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 for School candidates, over alleged examination malpractice.

The figure, however, represents a decline from the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.

This was disclosed by the Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, who announced the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday.

Dangut said the council withheld the affected results due to various infractions, including the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite the existing ban and organised cheating in some schools, Vanguard reports.

“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 assisting candidates in malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education.

Performance breakdown

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

Out of the candidates who took the examination:

1,200,514 candidates (61.54 per cent) obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

1,687,378 candidates (86.50 per cent) secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.

The number of candidates who obtained credits in five subjects including English and Mathematics dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.

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 said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates (5.95 per cent) were still being processed.

The council also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination. They included:

137 visually impaired candidates;

491 candidates with hearing impairment;

55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates; and

41 physically challenged candidates.

The 2026 examination marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates, following the introduction of the format by WAEC.

Dangut said the council introduced several innovations, including the Digital Examiner Mark System to improve the speed of processing results, serialisation of question papers to curb malpractice, and a new portal that allows 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 involved in marking across 88 marking venues.

Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as WAEC Nigeria National Office head, said candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were cleared.