At a press conference held on Friday at the council’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, WAEC Nigeria’s Head, Dr. Amos Dangut, addressed the media with a frank and emotional apology over the discrepancies. He disclosed that the marking error originated from a newly introduced security feature—paper serialisation—which inadvertently affected the accuracy of scoring in some core subjects.
“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,” Dr. Dangut stated. “This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing.”
WAEC had adopted the serialisation method, previously used by another national examination body, to enhance examination security and curb malpractice. However, during a post-examination audit, it was found that the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3) was scored using incorrect answer keys due to a misassigned serialised code file. The error was isolated to candidates who took paper-based versions of the exam; those who opted for the computer-based mode were unaffected.
Other subjects impacted by the serialisation method included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics, although WAEC has not reported similar issues with their grading.
Following the correction of the error, the newly released data paints a significantly improved picture of candidates' performance. A total of 1,794,821 candidates (representing 91.14%) obtained credit and above in at least five subjects (with or without English and Mathematics). Of these, 1,239,884 candidates (or 62.96%) secured five credits including English and Mathematics—an enormous leap from the initially reported 38.32%.
A gender breakdown of this achievement shows that 53.05% of these candidates were female (657,819), while 46.95% (582,065) were male.
Still, the revised figures reflect a decline from the 72.12% performance recorded in 2024, marking a 9.16 percentage point drop year-on-year.
In total, 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, including students from affiliated institutions in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, which follow the Nigerian curriculum.
WAEC also accommodated 12,178 special needs candidates, including the visually impaired (112), hearing impaired (615), physically challenged (37), and spastic/mentally challenged (52). According to Dr. Dangut, these candidates were provided with the necessary support and their results have also been processed.
As of the latest update, 1,763,470 candidates (89.55%) have had their results fully processed and released. However, 205,916 candidates (10.45%) still have one or more subjects pending due to technical issues, with WAEC assuring that full results will be made available as soon as processing is complete.
In a recurring concern, the council reported that results of 191,053 candidates (9.7%) have been withheld over suspicions of examination malpractice—a decline from 11.92% in 2024. Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates are encouraged to file complaints or seek redress via waecinternational.org/complaints.
Dr. Dangut reaffirmed WAEC’s stance against malpractice: “WAEC will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice. All hands must be on deck to sanitise the system.”
Candidates are advised to access their results online at www.waecdirect.org and can request their digital certificates, which will be issued within 48 hours of verification. Physical certificates will be available within 90 days.
However, candidates whose registration fees were paid by indebted state governments will be unable to access their results until those debts are settled. Dr. Dangut urged state authorities to act swiftly: “We appeal to the concerned authorities to do the needful to enable affected schools and candidates to access their results.”
Offering a final apology, Dr. Dangut acknowledged the distress the error caused to students, parents, schools, and stakeholders. “We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, and the media must have endured,” he said. “This is a trying time for us at WAEC. We are doing everything we can to ensure this dismal situation does not recur.”
WAEC expressed gratitude to the Federal Government, Minister of Education, and state education boards for their support during the review and correction process.