’’…….This is the trying time for us at WAEC.”…. Dr. Dangut
The head of the National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut has confirmed the released of reviewed results for 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), for candidates, following the discovery of massive grading errors that negatively affected many candidates.’
He made this known during a Press briefing on Friday at the WAEC Head Office in Yaba, Lagos.
Dangut, admitted to a massive error in the marking of serialised papers, which led to a misrepresentation of candidates’ performance.
“With deep sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of WAEC Nigeria, apologise for the discrepancies discovered in the grading of serialised papers.”
He added, “this is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing,”
According to him, the council had implemented a new security innovation known as paper serialisation, already in use by another national examination body.
He however stated that during post-examination reviews, it was discovered that the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3) was scored using incorrect keys due to a wrongly assigned serialised code file.
Other serialised subjects according to the WAEC head included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.
However, 1,239,884 candidates or 62.96 per cent, obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics, a significant improvement from the previously reported 38.32 per cent.
Of this number, 657,819 (53.05 per cent) were female, while 582,065 (46.95 per cent) were male candidates.
Also, this reflects a 9.16 per cent drop from the 72.12 per cent performance recorded in 2024.
The Council reported that a total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the 2025 examination, including candidates from schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, which operate the Nigerian curriculum.
The council also handled 12,178 special needs candidates, including the visually impaired (112), hearing impaired (615), physically challenged (37), and spastic/mentally challenged (52). These candidates’ results have also been processed and released.
“All these candidates were adequately provided for in the administration of the examination,”
While 1,763,470 candidates (89.55 per cent) have had their results fully processed, 205,916 (10.45 per cent) still have one or more subjects pending due to technical glitches.
WAEC assured candidates that efforts are ongoing to conclude processing and release outstanding results very soon.
It was also confirmed that results of 191,053 candidates (9.7 per cent) have been withheld over allegations of examination malpractice.
This is lower than the 11.92 per cent recorded in 2024. Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates can seek redress via waecinternational.org/complaints.
“WAEC will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice. All hands must be on deck to sanitise the system,” said Dangut.
WAEC encouraged candidates to access their results via the official portal www.waecdirect.org and apply for their digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours after result verification. Hard copy certificates will be ready within three months.
He however reminded all candidates sponsored by indebted state governments would not have access to their results until the council receives payment from their respective states.
“We appeal to the concerned authorities to do the needful to enable affected schools and candidates to access their results,”
Dr. Dangut also offered an unreserved apology to stakeholders.
“We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, and the media must have endured.
“This is a trying time for us at WAEC. We are doing everything we can to ensure this dismal situation does not recur,” he said.
WAEC expressed appreciation to the Federal Government, the Minister of Education, and state education bodies for their support during the review and resolution process.
