By Nsan Neji
LAGOS (CONVERSEER) – The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, has released a revised version of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for school candidates, following the discovery of grading discrepancies that significantly altered candidates’ performance statistics.
Addressing journalists at the council’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, the Head of WAEC Nigeria, Dr Amos Dangut, acknowledged that a serious error occurred in the marking of serialised papers, leading 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. This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing,” Dangut stated.
According to him, the council had implemented a security feature known as paper serialisation, already in use by another national examination body. However, 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 included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.
“We investigated and discovered that a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of the English Language Objective paper. This resulted in them being marked with incorrect answer keys. It is important to note that candidates who wrote the exams using the computer-based mode were not affected,” Dangut explained.
With the error corrected, 1,794,821 candidates — representing 91.14 per cent — obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English and Mathematics). Out of these, 1,239,884 candidates, or 62.96 per cent, obtained five credits including English and Mathematics, an 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. However, the result still reflects a 9.16 per cent drop from the 72.12 per cent recorded in 2024.
WAEC said a total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, including those from schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea operating the Nigerian curriculum.
The council also catered to 12,178 special needs candidates, including 112 visually impaired, 615 hearing impaired, 37 physically challenged, and 52 spastic/mentally challenged. All their results have been processed and released.
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 issues. WAEC assured that efforts are ongoing to conclude processing and release the outstanding results soon.
Meanwhile, results of 191,053 candidates (9.7 per cent) have been withheld over allegations of examination malpractice — lower than the 11.92 per cent recorded in 2024. Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates may seek redress via www.waecinternational.org/complaints.
WAEC encouraged candidates to check their results through www.waecdirect.org and apply for their digital certificates, available within 48 hours after verification, while hard copies will be ready within 90 days. However, candidates sponsored by indebted state governments will not have access to their results until payments are settled.
“We appeal to the concerned authorities to do the needful to enable affected schools and candidates to access their results,” Dangut urged.
Offering an unreserved apology, Dangut said, “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 also thanked the Federal Government, the Minister of Education, and state education bodies for their support during the review and resolution process.
