The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates over alleged examination malpractice.
The withheld results account for 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who wrote the examination, according to the council during the official release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday.
Speaking at the event, the Head of WAEC National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, said the affected results were linked to various forms of examination malpractice, including the use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some schools.
He explained that the cases are currently being reviewed by the council’s appropriate committees before final decisions are taken on the affected candidates.
Dangut noted that the rate of examination malpractice dropped to 8.59 per cent in 2026 from 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025, describing the decline as evidence that measures introduced by the council to curb malpractice are producing positive results.
He warned that candidates, schools, supervisors and invigilators found guilty of violating examination regulations would face the prescribed sanctions.
WAEC also disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates remain under processing due to unresolved issues.
According to the council, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent of those who sat the examination, obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The examination body further attributed improvements in examination administration and result processing to the deployment of new technological innovations, including the Digital Examiner Marking System, enhanced paper serialisation and an electronic PIN generation platform.
