The West African Examinations Council has withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates over alleged examination malpractice.
The affected candidates represent 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who wrote the examination, a slight improvement from the 9.7 per cent malpractice rate recorded in the 2025 examination.
The Head of the WAEC National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lagos while announcing the release of the 2026 WASSCE results.
Dangut attributed the withheld results to various forms of examination malpractice, particularly the growing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite an existing ban and organised cheating involving some schools.
According to him, the council has also apprehended some supervisors and invigilators allegedly involved in aiding candidates to cheat, adding that they would face disciplinary action through the appropriate state ministries of education.
“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools remain major concerns,” he said.
Despite the malpractice cases, WAEC reported that candidates’ overall performance remained encouraging.
Out of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat the examination, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Similarly, 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, secured five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
However, the council noted that the percentage of candidates who obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics, declined by 1.42 percentage points compared to the 2025 results.
A gender breakdown of candidates who obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics, showed that 641,631 females, representing 32.89 per cent, outperformed 558,883 males, representing 28.65 per cent.
Overall, females accounted for 997,267 candidates, or 51.12 per cent of the total candidates, while males stood at 953,459, representing 48.88 per cent.
WAEC further disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who sat the examination, had their results fully processed and released.
The council added that the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, were still being processed and would be released after the completion of necessary procedures.
Dangut also revealed that 1,213 candidates living with disabilities participated in the examination. They included 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
He said the 2026 examination marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for school candidates, noting that the council introduced several innovations to improve the integrity and efficiency of the examination process.
The innovations, he said, include the Digital Examiner Marking System to accelerate result processing, serialisation of question papers to reduce examination malpractice, and a new online 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 centres nationwide.
Dangut, who described the briefing as his final results announcement as Head of the WAEC National Office, warned that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to the council would not have access to their results until the outstanding payments were settled.