WAEC Leaves Thousands in the Dark: 2026 Results Delayed for Some States
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, but thousands of students may not be able to access their results due to outstanding debts owed by their state governments to the examination body.
According to Dr Amos Josiah Dangut, Head of WAEC Nigeria National Office, candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council will not have their results released until the outstanding payments are made. The council has not disclosed the names of the affected states or the number of candidates involved.
Candidates Affected by State Debts
The affected candidates are not being denied results because of their performance or any examination-related offence, but because their sponsoring states have not fulfilled their financial obligations to WAEC. Dangut appealed to the concerned to settle their obligations to enable students to access their examination outcomes.
The council has introduced a portal where candidates can directly generate electronic PINs required to access their results, but candidates affected by state government debts will have to wait until the outstanding obligations are cleared before they can access their results.
Examination Malpractice
Aside from candidates affected by state debts, WAEC also announced that it withheld the results of 167,486 candidates over suspected examination malpractice. The figure represents 8.59 per cent of the total candidates who sat for the examination and is lower than the 9.7 per cent recorded in 2025. Some of the major issues contributing to examination malpractice include the increasing use of mobile phones inside examination halls despite the existing ban and organised cheating in some schools.
The council said cases involving examination malpractice are being investigated before final decisions are made on the affected results. Supervisors and invigilators found to have aided malpractice during the examination have been apprehended.
Support for Candidates with Special Needs
WAEC also disclosed that 1,213 candidates with special needs participated in the 2026 WASSCE. The figure included 137 visually challenged candidates and 491 candidates with impaired hearing, among others. The council said it continued to provide support measures to ensure candidates with special needs could participate in the examination.
Candidates whose results have been released can check them online through http://www.waecdirect.org. within 12 hours of the announcement. WAEC also announced that candidates can access their digital certificates 48 hours after checking their results, while hard copies of certificates will be available within 90 days. However, candidates affected by state government debts will have to wait until the outstanding obligations are cleared before they can access their results.
What Happens Next
The council has not provided a timeline for when affected candidates will receive their results, but appealed to indebted states to settle their obligations to enable students to access their examination outcomes. Candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council will not access their results until payments are made.
Source: Pulse.ng
