The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has revealed a decline in performance of candidates in the 2025 exercise, compared to the previous year.
This followed the release of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results on Monday.
Out of a total of 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination across 23,554 schools, only 754,545 candidates, representing 38.32 per cent obtained a minimum of five credits, including English Language and Mathematics, a 33.8 per cent drop from the 72.12 per cent recorded in 2024.
WAEC’s Head of Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, at a press briefing on Monday at its national headquarters in Lagos, 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 conducted between April 24 and June 20, 2025, while coordination and marking took place from July 3 to 21.
According to him, WAEC also deployed a real-time digital scoring system to enhance the speed and accuracy of result processing.
Of the total candidates, 1,517,517 (77.06 per cent) had their results fully processed and released, while 451,796 (22.94 per cent) were still being processed due to technical issues, which WAEC assured would be resolved in the coming days.
On examination malpractice, 192,089 results, representing 9.75 per cent, were being withheld for offenses including the use of banned mobile phones and collusion.
WAEC noted this as a slight improvement from 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 assured.
He further pointed out that states owing WAEC would not be able to access the results of their sponsored candidates until outstanding debts are cleared.
Meanwhile, 12,178 candidates with special needs registered for the 2025 WASSCE.
Out of them, 112 were visually impaired, 615 had hearing challenges, 52 were mentally challenged, and 37 had physical disabilities.
WAEC confirmed that they were all were provided with the necessary support during the exercise.
On gender distribution, 976,787 candidates (49.60%) were male, while 992,526 (50.40%) were female.
Out of the 754,545 who passed with five credits including English and Maths, 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).
WAEC said it allowed candidates to choose between the traditional paper-and-pencil format and a computer-based test (CBT) option this year, part of the Council’s move toward full digitisation by 2026.
“This year’s exam placed us as a foremost examining body to have conducted an achievement test using a computer-based format,” Dangut said.
