The West African Examinations Council released the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results for school candidates on Wednesday.
Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office Dr Amos Dangut announced the release in Lagos. He revealed key statistics on candidate performance and malpractice cases.
A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the examination across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea. Of this number, 1,950,726 candidates actually sat for the papers, which took place between April and June 2026.
The 2026 examination marked the second edition of the computer-based format for school candidates. Many schools adopted the CBT option, though most candidates still used the traditional pen-and-paper method.
Dr Amos Dangut stated that 1,200,514 candidates, which represented 61.54 percent, obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. He noted that this figure showed a decline of 1.42 percentage points compared to the 2025 results.
Furthermore, 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 percent, secured credits in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English and Mathematics. Female candidates performed strongly in the core benchmark, with 641,631 achieving the five credits including English and Mathematics.
Dr Amos Dangut disclosed that WAEC withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, which accounted for 8.59 percent of those who sat the examination. He attributed the withholdings to various infractions, such as the use of mobile phones in examination halls and organised cheating in some centres.
He added that the malpractice percentage dropped from 9.7 percent recorded in 2025. WAEC processed and released results for 1,834,695 candidates, or 94.05 percent, while it continued to process 116,031 results, representing 5.95 percent.
WAEC urged candidates to generate their PIN on waec.org and check results on waecdirect.org. The process requires the examination number and National Identification Number used during registration. Candidates can also apply for digital certificates 48 hours after accessing their results.
