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

According to the examination body, 1,200,514 candidates obtained credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

Announcing the results in Lagos on Wednesday, the Head of the WAEC National Office, Amos Josiah Dangut, said the pass rate represents 61.54 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat for the examination.

This, he said, reflects a 1.42 percentage-point decline from the 2025 performance.

According to WAEC, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, the Benin Republic, Côte d'Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 candidates eventually took the examination.

The council disclosed that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects with or without English Language and Mathematics.

A breakdown of candidates who met the university admission benchmark showed that 558,883 males (28.65 per cent) and 641,631 females (32.89 per cent) earned five credits, including English and Mathematics.

Overall, 953,459 males (48.88 per cent) and 997,267 females (51.12 per cent) sat for the examination.

WAEC also disclosed that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent, have had their results fully processed and released, while the results of 116,031 candidates (5.95 per cent) are still being processed.

The council further revealed that 1,213 candidates with special needs registered for the examination, including 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 with hearing impairments, 55 candidates with spastic and mental disabilities, and 41 physically challenged candidates.

On examination malpractice, WAEC announced that the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent, have been withheld over alleged involvement in examination malpractice.

The figure is 1.11 percentage points lower than the 9.70 per cent recorded in 2025.

Dangut attributed the malpractice cases largely to the continued use of mobile phones in examination halls despite the existing ban and organised cheating in some schools.

He added that supervisors and invigilators found aiding malpractice had been apprehended and would be sanctioned through the relevant State Ministries of Education.

Highlighting innovations introduced during the exercise, Dangut noted that the 2026 examination was the second Computer-Based WASSCE for school candidates.

He said WAEC also deployed the Digital Examiner Marking System (DEMS) to accelerate result processing, introduced the serialisation of question papers to curb malpractice, and launched a new portal enabling candidates to generate result-checking e-PINs directly.

The council announced that candidates can now apply for their digital certificates within 48 hours of checking their results through WAEC's official portal.

It also disclosed that registration for the 2026 WASSCE for Private Candidates (Second Series) is ongoing at a fee of ₦37,500, with provision for walk-in candidates.

WAEC advised candidates that their results can be accessed within 12 hours through its official result-checking portal, while hard-copy certificates will be available within 90 days.

The 2026 WASSCE for School Candidates was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners participating in the marking exercise across 88 marking venues.