The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced the release of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, withholding some due to nonpayment of registration fees.

At a news conference on Monday in Lagos, Amos Dangut, head of the Nigeria National Office, West African Examination Council (WAEC), 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.

Mr Dangut raised concerns over a 33.8 per cent decrease in candidates’ performance and the rising trend of examination malpractice.

He said the results of 192,089 candidates, representing 9.75 per cent of the total number of candidates, were withheld over various reported malpractice cases.

According to him, the figure represented a 2.17 per cent decline compared to the 11.92 per cent recorded in the 2024 edition of the same examination.

“In spite of 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,” Mr Dangut said.

He said that investigations into the reported cases were ongoing and 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.

Mr Dangut added that dissatisfied candidates could lodge complaints online via https://waecinternational.org/complaints.

Mr Dangut assured 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 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,” he said.

He said 1,973,365 candidates registered from 23,554 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria, but 1,969,313 candidates sat the examination.

“The examination was also administered to candidates from some schools in the Benin Republic, Côte 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 head of the national office also said that 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 females.

“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 a 33.8 per cent decrease in performance,” he said. 

(NAN)