The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has released the 2021 Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) results and noted that there was an improvement in the number of candidates who got credits in five subjects including Mathematics and English Language.

The head of the Nigeria National Office of the examination body, Patrick Areghan, disclosed this at a press conference on Monday.

While giving a breakdown of the examination and the results, he explained that 1,560,261 candidates sat for the exercise in five countries – The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Areghan said that out of the 1,560,261 million candidates who sat for the examination, 1,398,370 million candidates, representing 89.62%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics.}

He said, “Out of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, 1,256,990 million candidates, representing 80.56% have their results fully processed and released while 303,271 candidates, representing 19.44 per cent have a few of their subjects still being processed due to some issues being resolved.”

“The results of 170,146 candidates, representing 10.9 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat the examination, are being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice.

“The increasing use of cell phones in the examination hall and organised cheating in some schools are other big concerns. All the cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate committee of the Council for determination in due course,” he said.