…As 1.2 Million Meet University Admission Benchmark
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.
According to WAEC, 1,200,514 candidates obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The examination body announced the release in a post on its official X handle on Wednesday.
“UPDATE: 2026 WASSCE (SC) results have been released. Generate your PIN at http://waec.org and check your results now on http://waecdirect.org,” the examination council stated.
According to WAEC, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 eventually sat for the papers.
Of those who wrote the examination, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The council also disclosed that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics.
Of the candidates who met 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.
However, the Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, said the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those who sat for the 2026 computer-based WASSCE, had been withheld over alleged examination malpractice.
Announcing the release of the results in Lagos on Wednesday, Dangut said the affected results were withheld over various infractions, including the increasing use of mobile phones in examination halls despite the existing ban and 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 allegedly involved in examination malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant state ministries of education.
The council also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the examination. They comprised 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
Dangut further stated that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding payments were settled.
The 2026 WASSCE was conducted between April 21 and June 19, with about 1.96 million candidates sitting the examination in more than 24,200 secondary schools across Nigeria.
While most candidates wrote the examination using the traditional pen-and-paper format, more schools adopted the computer-based testing (CBT) option compared to previous years.
Candidates are required to generate a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and serial number on the WAEC website before checking their results on the council’s result portal.
The process requires candidates to provide their examination number and the National Identification Number (NIN) used during registration, alongside their contact details for OTP verification.
