WAEC RELEASES CORRECTED 2025 WASSCE RESULTS, APOLOGIZES TO CANDIDATES AND PARENTS

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released corrected results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, following the discovery of a grading error that altered the initial performance figures.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday at the council’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, WAEC Nigeria’s Head, Dr. Amos Dangut, acknowledged the mistake and offered an unreserved apology to candidates, parents, schools, and other stakeholders.

He explained that the error occurred in the marking of serialised papers, a security measure introduced to curb examination malpractice. According to him, the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3) was scored using incorrect keys due to a wrongly assigned serialised code file. Mathematics, Biology, and Economics were also affected.

“This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing,” Dangut said, adding that candidates who wrote the exams in computer-based mode were not affected.

With the corrections made, 1,794,821 candidates—representing 91.14 per cent—earned credit and above in a minimum of five subjects. Of these, 1,239,884 candidates (62.96 per cent) obtained five credits, including English Language and Mathematics, compared to the initially announced 38.32 per cent.

WAEC reported that 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination across Nigeria and in affiliated schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea. This included 12,178 special needs candidates whose results have been processed and released.

The council disclosed that while 1,763,470 candidates (89.55 per cent) have had their results fully processed, 205,916 candidates still have one or more subjects pending due to technical issues. Results of 191,053 candidates have been withheld over examination malpractice allegations, with investigations ongoing.

Candidates can access their results through www.waecdirect.org and apply for digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours of result verification. WAEC also stated that results for candidates sponsored by indebted state governments will remain inaccessible until outstanding payments are made.

“This is a trying time for us at WAEC,” Dangut said. “We are committed to ensuring that such an occurrence does not happen again.”