WAEC releases 2026 results, reveals candidates’ performance

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially released the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for school candidates.

The Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Amos Dangut, announced the results on Wednesday in Lagos.

He announced a 61.54% pass rate, with 1,200,514 out of the 1,950,726 candidates obtaining credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

This development, he said, represents a 1.42% decrease compared to 2025.

According to him, a total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools enrolled for the examination across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea.

A total of 1,950,726 candidates sat for the examination.

“Of those who sat, 1,200,514 candidates—61.54%—obtained credits and above in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.

“1,687,378 candidates—86.50%—obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English and Mathematics,” he said.

“Among the 1.2 million candidates who passed English and Mathematics, 558,883, representing 28.65%, were male, while 641,631, representing 32.89%, were female.

“Overall, 953,459 males—48.88%—and 997,267 females—51.12%—sat the examination,” he further noted.

Dangut said 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05%, have had their results fully processed and released.

The results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95%, are still being processed.

According to him, a total of 1,213 candidates with special needs registered.

This includes 137 visually challenged candidates, 491 with impaired hearing, 55 spastic cum mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.

WAEC withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59%, over examination malpractice.

This is 1.11% lower than the 9.7% recorded in 2025.

“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 caught aiding malpractice have been apprehended and would face sanctions through the State Ministries of Education.

Dangut, who said this was his third and last briefing as Head of WAEC Nigeria, noted that 2026 was the second time the Council conducted the CB-WASSCE for school candidates.

Other innovations include the Digital Examiner Mark System, DEMS, for faster processing, serialisation of question papers to fight malpractice, and a new portal where candidates can directly generate e-PINs to check results.

Digital Certificates: Candidates can now apply for digital certificates 48 hours after checking results online at http://www.waecdirect.org

Private Candidates 2026 — Second Series: Registration is ongoing at N37,500. Walk-in candidates allowed.

Past Questions: Compiled WAEC past questions and answers now sold for N5,200 per subject combination.

Candidates can check results within 12 hours at http://www.waecdirect.org. Hard copies of certificates will be ready in 90 days.

The examination was conducted from April 24 to June 19, 2026 and marked by 102,708 examiners across 88 marking venues.

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