The 2025 WASSCE results have been withdrawn for review by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in response to a high volume of complaints regarding widespread failure in key subjects.
WAEC said in a statement on Thursday that an internal audit found technical issues that impacted math, English, biology, and economics scores.
The Council attributed the problem to a new anti-malpractice system to enhance exam integrity.
“WAEC regrets the technical challenges discovered after the release of the 2025 results,” the statement read.
It clarified that the mistake resulted from a novel technique known as paper serialisation, which rearranges exam questions to deter cheating. However, there have been reports of result errors in the system.
The Council has consequently temporarily closed the result-checking portal.
“Candidates are advised to recheck their results after 24 hours,” WAEC said, adding that efforts are underway to correct the problem.
“We apologise to all affected candidates and the general public,” the statement added. “WAEC is working around the clock to fix the issue and ensure fairness for everyone.”
Shutting down of the WAEC result-checking portal
Candidates awaiting their 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results are concerned as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has warned that its online result checker portal, waecdirect.org, will be temporarily shut down due to technical issues.
The Council quickly resolved the matter after the announcement, which WAEC made via its official X handle (@waecnigeria) at around 6:44 PM WAT on Wednesday.
In its statement, WAEC reassured the public that its technical staff is trying to get the portal back up and running within the next day.
The Council emphasised its dedication to guaranteeing smooth access to results and asked candidates and stakeholders to exercise patience during this time.
Since eligibility for tertiary education is determined by the WASSCE, a crucial exam for secondary school students throughout West Africa, the portal’s outage is a significant problem for thousands of applicants.
The technical issue occurred when WAEC was moving to digital platforms to increase efficiency, including introducing its Digital Certificate Platform in 2022, which enables candidates to view and validate certificates online.
Comparable difficulties have previously arisen and are frequently ascribed to server overloads during periods when result-checking is at its highest.
The Council’s proactive social media communication shows an attempt to remain transparent in the face of candidates’ mounting annoyance, as some have been complaining about having trouble accessing results since early Wednesday.
With over 1.8 million candidates registered for the 2025 WASSCE, education analysts say the brief outage highlights the necessity of strong digital infrastructure to serve Nigeria’s sizable student body.