West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, with 61.54 per cent of candidates obtaining credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Announcing the results at a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Amos Dangut, said 1,200,514 candidates met the minimum admission requirement for tertiary institutions out of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat the examination nationwide.
According to him, a total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination conducted between April 24 and June 19, while 1,950,726 eventually wrote the examination. Of those who sat, 953,459 were male and 997,267 were female.
Dangut disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, have had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, are still being processed due to issues currently being resolved.
“Today, I am happy to inform you that all the processes leading to the release of results have been completed. It is now my pleasure to announce the release of the results of candidates who sat the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2026 in Nigeria,” he said.
The WAEC boss further revealed that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
A breakdown of those who obtained five credits including English and Mathematics showed that 558,883 were male, while 641,631 were female.
On examination malpractice, Dangut said the council withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of the total candidates, over alleged involvement in various forms of malpractice.
He noted that the figure represents an improvement from the 9.7 per cent recorded in the 2025 examination, attributing most malpractice cases to the use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools.
“All the cases are being investigated, and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council for consideration and final decisions,” he said.
He added that affected candidates would be notified of the committee’s decisions through their schools and could seek redress through WAEC’s malpractice complaints platform.
The council also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs registered for the examination, including visually impaired, hearing-impaired, physically challenged, and spastic candidates, adding that all were adequately catered for and their results released alongside those of other candidates.
Dangut identified logistics challenges, late registration by schools, rising inflation and examination malpractice as some of the major difficulties encountered during the conduct of the examination.
He also warned candidates and parents against patronising rogue websites selling fake examination questions, noting that some suspects had already been arrested through collaboration with security agencies.
WAEC announced a new result-checking procedure, stating that candidates must now generate their result checker PINs online through the council’s digital certificate platform using their National Identification Number (NIN), following the discontinuation of Smart Identity Cards containing result-checker PINs.
The council said candidates whose results have been released can access them on the WAEC results portal within 12 hours, apply for their digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours, while hard-copy certificates will be ready within 90 days.
