The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) revealed a decline in performance compared to the previous year, following the release of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for school candidates.
Out of a total of 1,969,313 applicants who took the exam across 23,554 schools, only 754,545—or 38.32 percent—received a minimum of five credits, including English Language and Maths. This represents a huge 33.8% decrease from the 72.12% observed in 2024.
Dr Amos Dangut, Head of the Nigeria National Office, spoke at a press briefing on Monday, August 4, 2025, at WAEC’s national headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, and attributed the drop in performance to the Council’s new approach of serialising objective test papers in key subjects such as English, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.
“This approach drastically reduced the incidence of collusion and made examination malpractice more difficult. We observed a dip in the performance of objective papers, but essay papers remained consistent with previous years. It’s a strong signal that candidates must rely on their own preparation,” Dangut said.
The examination was held from April 24 to June 20, 2025, with coordinating and marking taking place from July 3 to 21. WAEC also implemented a real-time digital scoring system to improve the speed and accuracy of results processing.
Out of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06%) had their results fully processed and released, while 451,796 (22.94%) are still being processed owing to technical challenges, which WAEC stated will be remedied in the next few days.
On examination of malpractice, 192,089 results, or 9.75 per cent, are now being withheld for offences such as using banned mobile phones and non-cooperation. This represents a slight improvement above the 11.92 per cent withheld in 2024.
“These unscrupulous elements have become a thorn in the Council’s flesh. Some even use our name to distribute fake messages. We’ve apprehended some of them, and appropriate sanctions will be applied,” Dangut stated.
He further stated that states that owe WAEC will be unable to access the results of their sponsored candidates unless outstanding debts are resolved.
Meanwhile, 12,178 applicants with special needs have registered for the 2025 WASSCE. Of these, 112 were visually handicapped, 615 had hearing issues, 52 were mentally challenged, and 37 had physical limitations. WAEC confirms that everyone received the necessary help.
In terms of gender distribution, 976,787 candidates (49.60%) were men and 992,526 (50.40%) were women.
Females outperformed males, accounting for 53.99 per cent (407,353) of the successful candidates, while males made up 46.01 per cent (347,192).
This year’s exam also marked a significant milestone, as WAEC permitted applicants to select between the traditional paper-and-pencil format and a computer-based test (CBT) alternative as part of the Council’s push for full digitisation by 2026.
“This year’s exam placed us as the foremost examining body to have conducted an achievement test using a computer-based format,” Dangut said.
The results were formally released on Monday using WAEC’s X handle, and candidates can view them at http://waecdirect.org.
