Speaking on Monday, at a press briefing, while announcing the release of the 2023 WASSCE, the Head of Nigeria Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, revealed that out of the 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38% obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics).

He added that 79.81 percent obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

“The analysis of the statistics of the performance of candidates in the examination shows that out of the 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38%, obtained credit and above in a minimum of any five subjects (i.e with or without English Language and/ or Mathematics;

“1,287,920 candidates, representing 79.81%, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics,” Areghan said.

He stressed that out of this 1,287,920, 616,914 i.e., 47.9% were male candidates, while 671,006 i.e. 52.1% were female candidates.

While making a comparison with 2022 performance, he said, “The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, was 76.36%. Thus, there is a 3.45% decrease in performance in this regard.”

He also said the results of 262,803 candidates, that sat the examination, were being withheld in connection with various reported cases of examination malpractice.

Areghan, said, the withheld results represented 16.29% of the total 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination.

Head of National Office, Nigeria (HNO) of West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), Patrick Areghan, said the arrest was made in Maiduguri, Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Umuahia. The suspects will be handed to police and will also be paraded at national television.

Areghan said; “We are not interested in failing students but interested in seeing them pass but the only thing is we cannot help them to pass, we only encourage them by telling them what to and not to do. We are talking to them to make sure they don’t involve in examination malpractice.

“We have arrested students. In Ibadan, we arrested a supervisor, candidates, and other groups. In Maiduguri, supervisors and candidates were arrested, while in Abeokuta a school proprietor who started it (examination malpractice) from the beginning of the examination was arrested along with others. In Osogbo, a candidate and supervisor and so many others in Umuahia too who are involved in illegal activities were arrested. We have gone further by identifying and arresting the rogue operators involved in malpractice, unlike last year. Do not copy what your mate is writing because there is nothing that will make you write the same thing. If you rely on cheating that means you have failed and we want you to pass.”

The schools were de-certified due to examination malpractices.

According to the Director of Examination, Ministry of Education, Gombe State, Ali Yaya, they were decertified due to malpractice-related issues.

The Director made the disclosure during a meeting with principals of the state secondary schools and the management of the ministry

Similarly in 2022, the Ministry received a fresh set of six schools that committed the same offence and they were also de-recognised with a penalty of N500,000 fee per school payable to WAEC.”

While lamenting the impact of the de-certification on the overall student performance in the 2022 Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations final result, Yaya noted that examination malpractice was currently the major challenge facing senior secondary schools in the state and which must be addressed.

“The percentage of 2022 result was 55.6 percent as against 79.5 percent for 2021 and this is in connection with the examination malpractice recorded in six of our schools,” he added.

He warned all principals across schools to stay away from examination malpractice of any form, adding, “Any principal found wanting again in any form of Exams Malpractice will be seriously punished and the penalty should be paid by the school.”

When contacted on how the state government through the ministry of education planned to revert the hammer by the examination body, the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Aishatu Maigari, said the government would never support malpractices.

“Zero tolerance to exam malpractice is our stand,” Maigari added.