The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced the release of the revised results of its 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), indicating a 24.64 per cent increase in the number of candidates who secured credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Earlier on Monday, WAEC had announced that merely 38.32 per cent of its 1,969,313 candidates secured credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
However, at a press briefing on Friday, the Head of Nigeria’s Office (HNO) of WAEC, Amos Dangut, said after reviewing the process, the new statistics indicates that a total of 1,239,884 of the 1,969,313 candidates, representing 62.96 per cent, secured credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
To gain admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria, candidates must obtain credit in five relevant subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
READ ALSO: WASSCE 2025: WAEC recalls released results, candidates to check afresh
The statistics earlier released indicated that the results represented the worst performance recorded by WAEC in many years. The examination body had blamed the development on the activities of examination malpractice syndicates, such as those it described as rogue website operators.
The development had sparked reactions from stakeholders, including candidates, parents, teachers, and school owners, among others, who accused the examination body of subjecting the candidates to harsh conditions during the conduct of the examinations.
On 28 May, when WAEC conducted the English Language examination, many candidates had stayed till very late in the night due to logistic problems encountered by the examination body.
WAEC makes U-turn
Following the backlash that greeted the poor results announced by WAEC, the examination body, on Thursday, announced that it had shut down its portal for checking results, noting that it suspected that a technical glitch experienced during the computation of the results had affected the performance of the candidates.
Mr Dangut apologised for the discomfort caused to the candidates, their parents, and other stakeholders by the withdrawal of the results.
He said: “However, during an internal post-examination review of the released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC) 2025, some discrepancies were discovered in the grading of serialised papers. We had earlier informed you that the Council embarked on an innovation (paper serialisation) already deployed by a national examination body.
“The Council, being an accountable, transparent, and credible organisation, further investigated all the serialised papers (Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics Objective Papers) and discovered that a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which resulted in them been (being) scored with wrong keys. Nevertheless, the schools that sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025, using the Computer-based mode were not affected by this error.”
WAEC said following the reviewed process, “the observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation.”
“The Council sincerely apologises for this imbroglio and deeply regrets the emotional and mental dismay it might have caused the affected candidates and all stakeholders. We have been able to fix the anomaly, and candidates can now access their results on the portal (www.waecdirect.org),” Mr Dangut declared.
The statement by Mr Dangut is reproduced below:
ADDRESS BY THE HEAD OF THE NIGERIA NATIONAL OFFICE OF THE WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL (WAEC), DR. AMOS JOSIAH DANGUT, FSTAN, MNIM, RAS, AT A PRESS BRIEFING TO RELEASE THE REVIEWED RESULTS OF THE WEST AFRICAN SENIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION (WASSCE) FOR SCHOOL CANDIDATES, 2025, ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2025, AT THE NATIONAL OFFICE, YABA, LAGOS
Gentlemen of the media, with deep sense of sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, welcome you to this press briefing to announce the reviewed results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2025 in Nigeria.
You will recall that on Monday, August 4, 2025, the Council, in Nigeria, announced the release of results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2025. In the course of the briefing, we told you that ONE MILLION, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN (1,969,313) candidates sat the examination and that, NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNRDED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN (976,787) were males while NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX (992,526) were females, representing 49.60% and 50.40%, respectively.
READ ALSO: WASSCE 2025: WAEC records worst performance in years, only 38% secures pass grades
From the analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination, we told you that out of the ONE MILLION, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN (1,969,313) candidates that sat the examination, ONE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGTHTEEN THOUSAND AND NINETY (1,718,090) candidates, representing 87.24%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e. with or without English Language and/or Mathematics). And SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE (754,545) candidates, representing 38.32%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Furthermore, THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO (347,192) representing 46.01% were male candidates, while FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVEN THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE (407,353) representing 53.99% were female candidates. A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2024 and 2025, reveal that in this year’s (2025) WASSCE, there is 33.8% decrease in performance (that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 72.12%.
However, during an internal post-examination review of the released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, (SC) 2025, some discrepancies were discovered in the grading of serialized papers. We had earlier informed you that the Council embarked on an innovation (paper serialization) already deployed by a national examination body.
The Council, being accountable, transparent and credible organization, further investigated all the serialized papers (Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics Objective Papers) and discovered that a serialized code file was wrongly used in the printing of English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which resulted in them been scored with wrong keys. Nevertheless, the schools that sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025, using the Computer-based mode were not affected by this error.
Consequently, the observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation. The Council sincerely apologises for this imbroglio and deeply regrets the emotional and mental dismay it might have caused the affected candidates and all stakeholders. We have been able to fix the anomaly and candidates can now access their results on the portal (www.waecdirect.org). At this juncture, may I announce the accurate results obtained by candidates.
REVIEWED RESULTS FOR WASSCE (SC) 2025
As announced earlier, a total of ONE MILLION, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN (1,969,313) candidates sat 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 TWELVE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT (12,178) candidates with varying degrees of Special Needs registered for the examination. Out of this number, ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE (112) were visually challenged, SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN (615) had impaired hearing; FIFTY-TWO (52) were spastic cum mentally challenged and THIRTY-SEVEN (37) were physically challenged. All these candidates were adequately provided for, in the administration of the examination. The results of these candidates have been processed and are also now being released along with those of other candidates.
Of the total number of ONE MILLION, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN (1,969,313) candidates that sat the examination, NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNRDED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN (976,787) were males while NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX (992,526) were females, representing 49.60% and 50.40%, respectively.
RESULTS BEING PROCESSED
Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, ONE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY (1,763,470) candidates, representing 89.55% have their results fully processed and released while TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN (205,916) candidates, representing 10.45% 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 the affected candidates’ results within a couple of days.
The analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination shows that out of the ONE MILLION, NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN (1,969,313) candidates that sat the examination, ONE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE (1,794,821) candidates, representing 91.14%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e. with or without English Language and/or Mathematics).
ONE MILLION, TWO HUNRED AND THIRTY-NINE THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR (1,239,884) candidates representing 62.96%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Of this number, FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTY-FIVE (582,065) representing 46.95% were male candidates, while SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETEEN (657,819) representing 53.05% were female candidates. A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2024 and 2025, reveal that in this year’s (2025) WASSCE, there is 9.16% decrease in performance (that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 72.12%.
Examination Malpractice
Meanwhile, the results of ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE THOUSAND, FIFTY-THREE (191,053) candidates, representing 9.7% of the total number of candidates that sat the examination, are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice. This review does not affect them. This is 2.22% lower than the 11.92% recorded in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024.
As we had earlier stated, all the cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council for consideration and final decisions. The Committee’s decisions will be communicated to the affected candidates through their various schools, in due course. Candidates affected by these decisions can now call for redress of their malpractice cases if they so wish via https://waecinternational.org/complaints
The Council will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice as schools, supervisors, teachers and candidates perpetrating this evil are not helping the educational system. All hands must therefore be on deck to sanitize the system.
Gentlemen of the Media, as the reviewed results of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025 are being uploaded on the results website, candidates should after checking the result online, apply for their Digital certificate which will be released forty-eight (48) hours thereafter. Candidates who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council can access their results on the Council’s results website: www.waecdirect.org, within the next twelve hours. Copies of the new Result Listing will be sent to schools shortly.
I need not restate the fact that the results of candidates who are sponsored by States indebted to the Council will not be released now until payment is made. We appeal to the concerned to do the needful to enable the affected schools/candidates access their results.
The Result Checker PIN and Serial Number required by candidates to check their results online, are contained on the Candidate’s Smart Identity Card issued and used during the conduct of the examination. Hard copies of certificates of candidates whose results have been fully processed and released will be ready within the next 90 days, counting from today.
CONCLUSION
Once again, the Management of the West African Examinations Counc pleads with all stakeholders to pardon us at this moment. This is very difficult for us to say but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing. We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, the media and other well-meaning stakeholders must have had to deal with. This is a trying time for us at WAEC, we are doing everything we can to ensure that such dismal situation does not recur.
Gentlemen of the media, the Management and entire Staff of the Council in Nigeria, wish to express our profound gratitude to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Honourable Minister of Education, Minister of State for Education, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and the various State Governments, for providing the enabling environment for us to navigate this hurdle and quagmire at this moment.
I thank you all, Gentlemen of the Media, for always responding to our calls and in helping WAEC to tell its story.
Thank you all and God bless.
