The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially revised and upgraded the 2025 results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, following the discovery of errors in the grading system. This correction has significantly increased the overall pass rate, especially for crucial subjects like English Language and Mathematics, bringing the new national average to 62.9%.
At a press briefing held in Lagos on Friday evening, Dr. Amos Dangut, the Head of WAEC’s National Office, publicly addressed the media regarding the upgraded results and extended a formal apology on behalf of the entire Council.
He began his statement by acknowledging the initial errors and stated, “Gentlemen of the media, with deep sense of sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, welcome you to this press briefing to announce the reviewed results of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025 in Nigeria.”
He explained that during the initial release on August 4, 2025, WAEC had reported that out of 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the exam, only 754,545 candidates (38.32%) obtained credit passes in at least five subjects including English and Mathematics. However, an internal audit later revealed a technical discrepancy in the grading process.
According to Dr. Dangut, the Council had implemented a new paper serialisation system for security reasons. Unfortunately, a wrong serialised code file was used during the grading of the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3), resulting in incorrect scores being assigned to candidates who wrote the paper-based version of the exam. Candidates who used the computer-based testing mode were not affected by this issue.
“The observable decline in the performance of candidates earlier announced was partly traceable to this absurd situation,” he added. WAEC has since corrected the issue and regraded the affected scripts, resulting in a significantly higher pass rate of 62.96%, or 1,239,884 candidates, who obtained credits and above in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.
Out of these successful candidates, 582,065 were male (46.95%) and 657,819 were female (53.05%), reflecting a consistent gender performance distribution. However, the Council noted that the new result still represents a 9.16% decline from the previous year’s 72.12% success rate in 2024.
Candidates are now being urged to check their updated results on www.waecdirect.org. The Council has assured that digital certificates will be made available within 48 hours after result confirmation. Additionally, WAEC confirmed that copies of the new result listings will be dispatched to all schools shortly.
This correction comes as a relief to thousands of candidates and their families, especially those who had strong performances in their JAMB UTME scores but were initially disqualified from university admission due to poor SSCE results in English Language.
The initial release of results had caused widespread panic and frustration among students, educators, parents, and policymakers. Many had questioned the integrity of the system when students who performed excellently in JAMB were being denied admission due to unexpectedly poor WAEC grades.
Dr. Dangut closed the briefing with a heartfelt apology, saying: “Once again, the management of the West African Examinations Council pleads with all stakeholders to pardon us at this moment. This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing. We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, the media and other well-meaning stakeholders must have had to deal with. This is a trying time for us at WAEC; we are doing everything we can to ensure that such dismal situation does not recur.”
WAEC has reiterated its commitment to upholding transparency, accountability, and credibility in its processes moving forward. The Council is reportedly implementing new safeguards to prevent such incidents from happening in future examination cycles.