The West African Examinations Council (WAEC)has revised the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, significantly increasing the pass rate to 62.9%.
At a press briefing in Lagos on Friday evening, Dr. Amos Dangut, Head of WAEC’s National Office, addressed the media, saying:
“Gentlemen of the media, with deep sense of sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, welcome you to this press briefing to announce the reviewed results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2025 in Nigeria.
“You will recall that on Monday, August 4, 2025, the Council, in Nigeria, announced the release of results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2025. In the course of the briefing, we told you that 1,969,313 candidates sat the examination and that 976,787 were males while 992,526 were females, representing 49.60% and 50.40%, respectively.
“From the analysis of statistics of candidates’ performance in the examination, we told you that out of the 1,969,313 candidates that sat the examination, 1,718,090 candidates, representing 87.24%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five (5) subjects (i.e. with or without English Language and/or Mathematics). And 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“However, during an internal post-examination review of the released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates (SC), 2025, some discrepancies were discovered in the grading of serialised papers. We had earlier informed you that the Council embarked on an innovation (paper serialisation) already deployed by a national examination body.
“The Council, being an accountable, transparent and credible organisation, further investigated all the serialised papers (Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics Objective Papers) and discovered that a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which resulted in them being scored with the wrong keys. Nevertheless, the schools that sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025, using the computer-based mode were not affected by this error.
“Consequently, the observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation. The Council sincerely apologises for this imbroglio and deeply regrets the emotional and mental dismay it might have caused the affected candidates and all stakeholders. We have been able to fix the anomaly, and candidates can now access their results on the portal (www.waecdirect.org). At this juncture, may I announce the accurate results obtained by candidates.
“1,239,884 candidates, representing 62.96%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
“Of this number, 582,065, representing 46.95%, were male candidates, while 657,819, representing 53.05%, were female candidates. A comparison of the percentage of candidates in this category in WASSCE for School 2024 and 2025 reveals that in this year’s (2025) WASSCE, there is 9.16% decrease in performance (that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five (5) subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, as 72.12% of the candidates did that last year).
“Gentlemen of the Media, as the reviewed results of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025, are being uploaded on the results website, candidates should, after checking the result online, apply for their digital certificate, which will be released forty-eight (48) hours thereafter. Candidates who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Council can access their results on the Council’s results website, www.waecdirect.org, within the next twelve hours. Copies of the new result listing will be sent to schools shortly.
“Once again, the management of the West African Examinations Council pleads with all stakeholders to pardon us at this moment. This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing. We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, the media and other well-meaning stakeholders must have had to deal with. This is a trying time for us at WAEC; we are doing everything we can to ensure that such dismal situation does not recur.”
The Council’s internal review found that the error occurred because a wrong serialised code file was used in printing the English Language Objective Tests (Paper 3), which caused incorrect scoring for paper-based candidates. Candidates who took the examination via computer-based testing were unaffected.
The revised results now show that 1,239,884 candidates, or 62.9%, obtained credit passes in at least five subjects including English and Mathematics—a significant improvement over the initial 38.32% reported.
Despite the increase, this year’s overall pass rate still represents a 9.16% decline compared to 2024, when 72.12% of candidates achieved the same standard.
WAEC has urged candidates to recheck their results online and to apply for their digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours of result confirmation. The Council has also promised to send updated results to schools shortly.
The earlier results release sparked widespread concern, particularly among students who performed well in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) but had poor English Language grades in the initial SSCE results.
WAEC management has apologized for the inconvenience and emotional distress caused, assuring stakeholders that steps are being taken to prevent such errors in the future.
