167,486 WASSCE Results Withheld! WAEC Cracks Down On Exam Malpractice

LAGOS, August 5, 2026 — WAEC has withheld results for more than 167,000 candidates caught up in exam malpractice.

Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office Dr Amos Dangut announced the figures on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, ValidViewNetwork reports. The announcement took place in Lagos during the council’s official results briefing.

The Numbers Behind The Crackdown

WAEC withheld results for 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of those examined. Findings show the figure marks a decline from 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025.

Dangut disclosed the figures during the same August 5, 2026 briefing in Lagos.

What Triggered The Malpractice Crackdown

Dangut blamed the rising use of mobile phones despite an existing examination hall ban. He said “organised cheating in some schools are other nagging issues.”

ValidViewNetwork gathered that some supervisors and invigilators now face arrest for assisting candidates. Affected staff will face disciplinary action through their respective state ministries of education.

How Nigeria’s Students Performed

A total of 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered across four countries this year.

Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea all hosted registered candidates. Of these, 1,950,726 candidates eventually sat the examination between April 24 and June 19, 2026.

Examiners numbering 102,708 marked scripts across 88 venues nationwide, ValidViewNetwork reports.Only 1,200,514 candidates, or 61.54 per cent, earned credits in English and Mathematics.

That figure dropped 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination. A broader 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 per cent, secured five credits overall. Female candidates outnumbered males both in participation and in credit attainment this year.

Results Processing And Outstanding Debts

WAEC fully processed and released results for 1,834,695 candidates, or 94.05 per cent, ValidViewNetwork gathered. The remaining 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, await processing completion.

Dangut said candidates sponsored by states indebted to WAEC will wait longer still. Their results stay withheld until the affected states clear outstanding payments.

A Second Digital Edition, And A Final Briefing

This year’s exam marked the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for school candidates. WAEC introduced a Digital Examiner Mark System to speed up result processing nationwide.

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The council also serialised question papers and launched a new candidate e-PIN portal. Dangut described Wednesday’s briefing as his third and final engagement in the role.

Nigeria’s exam malpractice numbers are falling, but 167,000 blocked results still represent real students in limbo. Phones smuggled past a standing ban expose enforcement gaps technology alone cannot close.

WAEC’s new digital tools may curb cheating, but only consistent discipline will sustain the trend. For now, the credit rate dip suggests results, and hard questions, remain unfinished business.