ABUJA/Nigeria: More than 1.2 million candidates who sat the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) obtained the minimum grades widely required for admission into Nigerian universities as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results on Wednesday.
The examination body said 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who wrote the examination, earned credit passes in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. The figures were announced by the Head of WAEC’s National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, during the official release of the results.
WAEC also disclosed that the results of 167,486 candidates had been withheld over alleged involvement in examination malpractice. The council said the cases are under investigation and that appropriate decisions would be taken after the review process is concluded.
The 2026 WASSCE for school candidates was conducted between April 21 and June 19 in more than 24,000 secondary schools across the country, with about 1.96 million candidates participating. The examination featured increased adoption of computer-based testing (CBT), although the conventional pen-and-paper format remained the dominant mode.
The release of the results came about 45 days after the conclusion of the examination, in line with the timeline earlier announced by the council.
Candidates whose results have been released can access them through WAEC’s official result-checking platform, while those whose results were withheld are expected to await the outcome of the council’s investigations into the reported malpractice cases.
The latest release follows the publication of the results of the 2026 First Series of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for private candidates earlier this year.
