By: Manoah Kikekon
 |
| WAEC |
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Nigeria has announced the reviewed results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates after discovering a major grading error that impacted performance statistics.
During a press briefing in Lagos, WAEC Nigeria’s Head, Dr. Amos Dangut, admitted a critical mistake in the marking of serialized papers, leading to misrepresented results.
"With deep regret, we apologize for the discrepancies in the grading process. This is highly embarrassing for us," Dangut stated.
The council introduced a new paper serialization security feature, similar to another national exam body’s system. However, a technical error caused the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3)** to be graded using incorrect answer keys. Other affected subjects included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics.
After fixing the error 1,794,821 candidates (91.14%) secured credits in five or more subjects (with or without English & Math). 1,239,884 (62.96%) achieved five credits including English & Math, a huge jump from the initial 38.32%. Female candidates outperformed males, with 53.05% (657,819) scoring five credits versus 46.95% (582,065) males.
Despite the correction, this year’s performance is still 9.16% lower than 2024’s 72.12% pass rate.
A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the exam, including students from Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea. WAEC also accommodated 12,178 special needs candidates, ensuring their