Only 38.32% of candidates who took part in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) obtained credit and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced. This marks a significant decline in performance compared to the 72.12% recorded in 2024, reflecting a 33.8% drop.
The Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Amos Dangut, made the disclosure on Monday, August 4, during a press briefing in Lagos, where he officially released the results for school candidates.
“The analysis of candidates’ performance in the examination shows that out of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat the exam, 1,718,090 — representing 87.24% — obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects, with or without English Language and/or Mathematics. However, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. Of this number, 347,192 (46.01%) were male candidates, while 407,353 (53.99%) were female,” Dangut stated.
A total of 1,969,313 candidates participated in the examination across 23,554 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria. This included 12,178 candidates with special needs, such as visual and hearing impairments, who were fully accommodated during the exams.
The gender distribution showed 976,787 males (49.60%) and 992,526 females (50.40%).
Dangut described the conduct of the examination as largely successful despite logistical challenges and delays in a few centres. He attributed the success to the collaboration of the federal and state ministries of education, security agencies, and other stakeholders.
He noted that WAEC’s strategy of serialising objective test questions, assigning candidates different versions, served as a deterrent to malpractice, though it may have contributed to the lower performance.
“While performance in the essay papers remained comparable to previous years, the objective papers recorded a slight but noticeable decline,” he said.
Out of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) had their results fully processed and released, while 451,796 (22.94%) candidates had one or more subjects still being processed due to issues under investigation.
Regarding exam malpractice, the results of 192,089 candidates, representing 9.75%, are being withheld pending investigation. This shows a slight improvement from the 11.92% recorded in 2024, although WAEC raised concerns about mobile phone usage and organised cheating rings.
WAEC reiterated its commitment to implementing full computer-based WASSCE for school candidates by 2026, following a partial rollout for private candidates in 2025.
The Council also encouraged candidates to apply for their digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours of result release. It called on indebted state governments to settle their obligations to allow affected candidates access to their results.
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