- 192,000 marks withheld over malpractices
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for school candidates.
Addressing reporters yesterday, WAEC’s Head of Nigeria Office (HNO), Dr. Amos Dangut, noted that the results showed a decline in performance.
The HNO said there was a 33.8 per cent decrease in performance of those who obtained Credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, compared to last year’s examination results.
The examination body said 38.32 per cent of the candidates who took part in the examination made Credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2024 and 2025 reveals that in this year’s (2025) WASSCE, there is 33.8 per cent decrease in performance (that is, those who obtained Credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 72.12 per cent),” he said.
Dangut said this year’s examination was written from April 24 to June 20, by 1,969,313 candidates out of 1,973,365 registered candidates.
The HNO announced that the results of 192,089 candidates, representing 9.75 per cent of the total number of candidates who sat the examination, were withheld in connection with various reported cases of malpractice. He put the number of candidates in this category at 2.17 per cent, lower than the 11.92 per cent recorded last year.
According to him, WAEC has introduced the serialisation of objective test question papers in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics to curb malpractice.
“Under this approach, each candidate was assigned a specific paper type, making collusion and other forms of examination malpractice extremely difficult to perpetrate,” Dangut said.
The HNO said the council would continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice as schools, supervisors, teachers, and candidates perpetrating such do a disservice to education.
He urged candidates who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the council to access their results on its results website: www.waecdirect.org, within the next twelve hours.
Dangut announced that the results of 192,089 candidates, representing 9.75 per cent of the total number of candidates, were withheld for various reported cases of malpractice.
According to him, the figure represents a 2.17 per cent decline, compared to the 11.92 per cent recorded in the 2024 edition of the same examination.
“In spite this improvement, WAEC expresses serious concern over the persistent use of mobile phones in examination halls and the growing instances of organised cheating in some schools,” Dangut said.
The HNO said investigations into the reported cases were ongoing and that the final decisions would be made by the appropriate committee of the council.
“Affected candidates will be notified through their respective schools once the committee concludes its review,” he said.
Dangut told dissatisfied candidates to lodge their complaints online via https://waecinternational.org/complaints.
He said WAEC has zero tolerance for examination malpractice, adding that schools, teachers, supervisors, and students involved in it do a disservice to the educational system.
He urged that all hands must be on deck to sanitise the system.
Dangut gave the assurance that the released results were being uploaded to the council’s official results website: www.waecdirect.org and would be accessible within the next 12 hours.
According to him, candidates who have settled all financial obligations to the council can check their results using the PIN and serial number found on their smart identity cards used during the examination.
“Additionally, candidates are encouraged to apply for their digital certificates, which will be made available 48 hours after checking their results online.
“For those whose results are fully processed, hard copy certificates will be ready within 90 days from the date of this announcement.”
Dangut said that candidates sponsored by state governments with outstanding debts would not be able to access their results until full payment.
He appealed to the affected states to pay outstanding debts to ensure their students would not be denied access to their academic records.
He said that 1,973,365 candidates registered for the examination from 23,554 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria, but 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination.
“The examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigerian curriculum for senior secondary schools is being used.
“I also wish to report that a total of 12,178 candidates with varying degrees of special needs registered for the examination.
“Out of this number, 112 were visually challenged, 615 had impaired hearing, 52 were spastic cum mentally challenged, and 37 were physically challenged.
“All these candidates were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination,” the WAEC boss said.
He gave the assurance that the results of the candidates had been processed and were also released along with those of other candidates.
“Of the total number of 1,969,313 candidates that sat for the examination, 976,787 were males while 992,526 were females, representing 49.60 per cent and 50.40 per cent, respectively.
“Out of the total number of candidates that sat for the examination in Nigeria, 1,517,517 candidates, representing 77.06 per cent, have their results fully processed and released, while 451,796 candidates, representing 22.94 per cent, have one or more of their subjects still being processed due to some issues to be resolved.
“Efforts are, however, being made to speedily complete the processes to enhance the release of the affected candidates’ results within a couple of days.
“The analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination shows that out of the 1,969,313 candidates that sat for the examination, 1,718,090 candidates, representing 87.24 per cent, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects,” he said.
The HNO also said 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32 per cent, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“Of this number, 347,192, representing 46.01 per cent, were male candidates, while 407,353, representing 53.99 per cent, were female candidates.
“A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2024 and 2025 reveals that in this year’s (2025) WASSCE, there is 33.8 per cent decrease in performance.”
