Nigeria: West African Exams Body Did Not Release List of Nigerian Schools Whose 2026 Exam Results Were Withheld

13 August 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Muktar Balogun

West African exams body did not release list of Nigerian schools whose 2026 exam results were withheld

IN SHORT: The West African Examinations Council has dismissed a list circulating on social media of schools whose 2026 exam results have allegedly been withheld over examination malpractice. It says the list is fake.

On 5 August 2026, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the West African Senior School Certificate Examination results for school candidates. It withheld the results of 167,486 candidates who sat the exam over reported cases of examination malpractice.

The council conducts public examinations and awards certificates across English-speaking West African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Liberia.

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Against this backdrop, Facebook users began sharing a purported WAEC list of Nigerian schools whose results had been withheld.

One post reads, in part: "The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for all candidates across 50 public and private secondary schools in Nigeria following reports of widespread examination malpractice."

The same claim was posted here, here and here.

But is this list really from WAEC? We checked.

List is fake

Africa Check conducted a keyword search and found no credible local media reports that the council published such a list, a major red flag.

Instead, WAEC posted the circulating list on its official X account on 5 August, labelling it "FAKE".

"FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please disregard the message below. It did not originate from WAEC," it wrote.

The list is fake and should be ignored.

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Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. X @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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