West African Examinations Council (WAEC) discovered a mistake in the grading of the English Language Objective Paper during an internal review.
Head of WAEC’s National Office, Dr. Amos Dangut, in a press conference on Friday in Lagos, explained that a wrong serialized code file was used, leading to incorrect marking keys.
“With deep sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management and Staff of WAEC Nigeria, apologise for the discrepancies discovered in the grading of serialised papers.
“This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing” he said.
In the corrected results, 1,239,884 candidates (62.96%) obtained credits in at least five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
This is a significant jump from the previously announced 38.32%. Overall, 1,794,821 candidates (91.14%) secured credits in at least five subjects with or without English and Mathematics.
Results of 191,053 candidates (9.7%) remain withheld due to various cases of examination malpractice under investigation.
“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,” Dr. Dangut said.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that such a dismal situation does not recur.”
Candidates can access their corrected results on WAEC’s portal (www.waecdirect.org) and apply for digital certificates 48 hours later.
Dr. Dangut urged states owing WAEC to settle their debts promptly so affected candidates can access their results.
