Introduction to the 2025 WAEC Results and Correction Process
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially released revised results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates. This comes after a significant discovery of grading discrepancies that impacted the performance statistics of many students.
In a press briefing held at the council’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Amos Dangut, the Head of WAEC Nigeria, acknowledged a critical error in the marking of serialised papers, which led to an inaccurate representation of candidates’ results.
“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.
The Error and Its Impact
The council had introduced a new security innovation known as paper serialisation, a feature already used by another national examination body. However, during post-examination reviews, it was found that the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3) was scored using incorrect keys due to a wrongly assigned serialised code file.
Other subjects that were affected included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics. According to Dangut, the issue arose from the use of an incorrect serialised code file during the printing of the English Language Objective paper. This resulted in the marking of these papers with wrong answer keys.
It is important to note that candidates who took the exams through the computer-based mode were not affected by this error.
Revised Performance Statistics
After correcting the error, 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). Notably, 1,239,884 candidates or 62.96 per cent, achieved five credits, including English and Mathematics, which marks 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. Despite this progress, the overall performance still reflects a 9.16 per cent drop from the 72.12 per cent recorded in 2024.
A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, including those from schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, which follow the Nigerian curriculum. Additionally, the council provided for 12,178 special needs candidates, including the visually impaired, hearing impaired, physically challenged, and spastic/mentally challenged individuals. Their results have also been processed and released.
Ongoing Challenges and Future Steps
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 has assured all stakeholders that efforts are ongoing to conclude processing and release outstanding results shortly.
Meanwhile, 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,” Dangut emphasized.
Accessing Results and Certificates
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 90 days.
Dangut reminded all that candidates sponsored by indebted state governments would not have access to their results until the council receives payment. “We appeal to the concerned authorities to do the needful to enable affected schools and candidates to access their results,” he urged.
Apology and Commitment
Dangut 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 also thanked the Federal Government, the Minister of Education, and state education bodies for their support during the review and resolution process.