The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 192,089 candidates from the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for alleged involvement in various forms of malpractice, the body announced on Monday.

The figure represents 9.75 per cent of the total 1,969,313 candidates who sat the exams across 23,554 schools — a slight drop from the 11.92 per cent withheld in 2024.

Announcing the results at WAEC’s national headquarters in Lagos, the Head of Nigeria National Office, Dr Amos Dangut, said the offences included the use of banned mobile phones in examination halls and collusion among candidates.

“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 said.

WAEC introduced a new serialisation of objective papers in key subjects, such as English Language, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics, in 2025. This move aimed to curb collusion and make malpractice more difficult. Dangut noted that while the measure led to a decline in performance in objective papers, it signalled the need for students to prepare independently.

Out 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) are still being processed due to technical issues. WAEC assured that these would be resolved in the coming days.

The council also warned that states owing examination fees would be unable to access the results of their sponsored candidates until the debts are cleared.

The 2025 WASSCE was conducted between April 24 and June 20, with marking completed on July 21. WAEC deployed a real-time digital scoring system to speed up and improve the accuracy of results.

“This year’s measures have strengthened the integrity of the examination. We will continue to refine our processes to stay ahead of malpractice,” Dangut added.