The withheld results account for 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who wrote the examination, representing a slight improvement compared to the 9.7 per cent recorded in the 2025 examination cycle.
The development was announced on Wednesday in Lagos by the Head of WAEC's Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, during the official release of the 2026 WASSCE results.
According to Dangut, the affected results were withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into various forms of examination malpractice recorded during the exercise. He identified the persistent use of mobile phones in examination halls, despite an existing ban, as well as organised cheating in some schools, as major concerns.
“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall, in spite of the existing ban, and organised cheating in some schools, are other nagging issues,” Dangut said.
He also disclosed that a number of supervisors and invigilators allegedly caught aiding candidates during the examination had been arrested and would face disciplinary measures through the appropriate state ministries of education.
Providing a breakdown of candidates' performance, Dangut said 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Côte d'Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea registered for the examination, while 1,950,726 eventually sat for the papers.
Of those who wrote the examination, 1,200,514 candidates, representing 61.54 per cent, obtained credit passes in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
He added that 1,687,378 candidates, representing 86.50 per cent, earned credit passes in a minimum of five subjects, regardless of whether they passed English Language and Mathematics.
WAEC noted that the proportion of candidates who secured five credits, including English Language and Mathematics, dropped by 1.42 percentage points compared with the 2025 examination.
Among the 1.2 million candidates who achieved the benchmark of five credits, including English and Mathematics, 558,883 (28.65 per cent) were male, while 641,631 (32.89 per cent) were female.
Overall, female candidates accounted for 997,267 (51.12 per cent) of those who sat the examination, while 953,459 (48.88 per cent) were male.
The council further announced that 1,834,695 candidates, representing 94.05 per cent of those who took the examination, have had their results fully processed and released. However, the results of 116,031 candidates, representing 5.95 per cent, are still being processed.
WAEC also highlighted the participation of 1,213 candidates with special needs in the examination. The figure comprises 137 visually impaired candidates, 491 candidates with hearing impairment, 55 spastic and mentally challenged candidates, and 41 physically challenged candidates.
The 2026 examination was the second edition of the Computer-Based WASSCE for School Candidates following the introduction of the computer-based format by the examination body.
Dangut said WAEC introduced several innovations during the examination, including the Digital Examiner Mark System to speed up result processing, the serialisation of question papers to reduce malpractice, and a new portal that enables candidates to generate e-PINs directly for checking their results.
The examination was conducted between April 24 and June 19, 2026, with 102,708 examiners participating in the marking exercise across 88 centres.
In his remarks, Dangut, who described the briefing as his third and final engagement as Head of WAEC's Nigeria National Office, also stated that candidates sponsored by state governments indebted to the council would not have their results released until the outstanding financial obligations were settled.