The controversy surrounding the conduct of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations may not yet be over, as the examination body has recalled the results it willingly released on Monday, 4 August.
In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, WAEC stated that it had identified glitches in the processes that led to the compilation of the results earlier released and shut down the result checker portal.
According to the statement, WAEC said the subjects affected in the process are those it “serialised,” which are Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics.
READ ALSO: WASSCE 2025: WAEC records worst performance in years, only 38% secures pass grades
The statement reads in part: “The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) sincerely regrets to inform the general public of technical issues discovered during the internal review of the recently released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC) 2025.
“As part of our efforts to curb examination malpractice, the Council embarked on an innovation (paper serialisation) already deployed by a national examination body. It is also worth noting that this is in line with best practices in assessment. The paper serialisation was carried out in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Economics. However, an internal post-result release procedure revealed some technical bugs in the results.
“The Council, being a responsive body that is sensitive to fairness and professionalism, has decided to urgently review and correct the technical glitches that led to the situation. As a result, access to the WASSCE (SC) 2025 results has been temporarily denied on the result checker portal.”
The examination body has, therefore, requested that candidates who had previously checked their results disregard what they currently hold and return to the site within the next 24 hours to check again for updated results.
“We extend our deep and sincere apologies to all affected candidates and the general public. We appreciate their patience and understanding as we work diligently to resolve this matter with transparency and urgency within the next twenty-four (24) hours. On this note, candidates who have previously checked their results are advised to re-check after 24 hours from now,” WAEC further noted.
Background
WAEC had on Monday announced the release of its results for the WASSCE 2025, with merely 38.32 per cent of 1,969,313 candidates who sat the examination securing pass grades of credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
The poor performance may not be unconnected to the logistics problem encountered by the examination body during the conduct of the examination in May, when students were kept at centres late into the night.
WAEC said a total of 1,973,365 candidates registered for the examinations across 23,554 secondary schools in the country, but 1,969,313 sat the examinations.
The Head of Nigeria’s Office (HNO) of WAEC, Amos Dangut, who disclosed this during a media briefing at the examination body’s headquarters in Lagos, said out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat the examination, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32 per cent, secured credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
In Nigeria, to be eligible for admission into tertiary institutions, obtaining credits in five relevant subjects, including English and Mathematics, in Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), is mandatory.
Out of the 754,545 candidates who secured credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, WAEC said 347,192, representing 46.01 per cent, are males, while 407,353, representing 53.99 per cent, are females.
READ ALSO: WASSCE 2025: WAEC set to release results, hope rises for admission seekers
Like JAMB, like WAEC
A similar fate had befallen the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) earlier in the year when it released the results of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Following criticisms by the public over what many described as poor performance, JAMB conducted a review of its processes and discovered that glitches experienced during the conduct of the examination had affected the results released in some parts of the country.
The examination body had to hold fresh examinations for the affected candidates, a development that cast doubt on the integrity of the country’s examination bodies.
The latest development by WAEC would further damage the integrity of national examination bodies and public institutions.
