The head, national office, West African Examinations Council (WAEC),  Amos Dangut, has announced the release of reviewed results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Mr Dangut explained at a media conference on Friday that during an internal post-examination review, WAEC discovered that a wrong serialised code file was used in printing the English Language Objective Paper.

He said that this led to the use of incorrect marking keys.

This error, the WAEC official said, partly accounted for the sharp decline in performance earlier reported, adding that schools using the computer-based mode were unaffected.

According to him, in the corrected results, 1,239,884 candidates, representing 62.96 per cent, obtained credits in at least five subjects including English Language and Mathematics, compared to the previously announced 38.32 per cent.

“In total, 1,794,821 candidates or 91.14 per cent secured credits in at least five subjects with or without English and Mathematics.

“The results of 191,053 candidates, representing 9.7 per cent of the total, remain withheld over various cases of examination malpractice, which are under investigation,” Mr Dangut said.

While apologising for the error, the WAEC boss described the state of affairs as a trying time for the management at WAEC.

He said, “we are doing everything we can to ensure that such dismal situation does not recur.

“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.”

He encouraged candidates to go back and access their corrected results on the Council’s portal, www.waecdirect.org, and to apply for their digital certificates 48 hours later.

He called on states owing the Council to settle their debts promptly, so that results of affected candidates could be released.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had earlier released the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates on Aug. 4, 2025.

A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, comprising 976,787 males (49.60 per cent) and 992,526 females (50.40 per cent).

The examination was also conducted for schools in Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea that use the Nigerian senior secondary school curriculum.

Following the release, WAEC discovered discrepancies in the grading of serialised objective papers, particularly in the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3), where a wrong serialised code file had been used during printing.

This error, which did not affect computer-based test centres, contributed to the earlier reported decline in candidates’ performance.

In line with its commitment to transparency and accountability, the Council reviewed and corrected the results, apologising to candidates, parents, schools and stakeholders for the distress caused.

 (NAN)