The West African Examinations Council said on Wednesday that only 49.98 per cent of candidates who wrote its 2018 school certificate examination obtained credit passes and above.
The council ’ s Head of National Office, Mr . Olu Adenipekun , said the credit passes included English Language and Mathematics.
Adenipekun gave this information at a news conference to announce the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Lagos .
According to him , the performance of candidates for its examinations in the last three years has been fluctuating in view of the outcome of the just released 2018 examination .
The HNO , who gave a breakdown of the statistics candidates ’ performance in the examination , said that a total of 1, 578 ,846 registered for the examination in Nigeria .
According to him , out of the number , 1, 572 ,396 of them sat for the examination .
Adenipekun said a total of 786, 016 candidates , representing 49.98 per cent who sat for the examination , obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
He said the performance , when compared to what obtained in the same examination in 2016 and 2017, showed a decline .
“ If we should compare the performance of candidates for this year’s examination under this category with that of 2016, which was 52. 97 and in 2017; 59. 22, we are safe to say it is fluctuating, just as it is declining .
“ These statistics are clear for you to see and make your judgment,” he said Adenipekun added that of the total number of candidates , who wrote the examination , 1 ,470 ,338 of them had their results fully processed and released.
He noted that a total of 102 ,058 other candidates had a few of their subjects still being processed , due to errors traceable to the candidates in the course of registration or while writing the examination .
The HNO assured that such errors were being corrected by the council to enable the affected candidates get their results fully processed and released subsequently .
He also said that a total of 1 , 213, 244 candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of any five subjects, with or without English Language and or Mathematics.
The WAEC official added that 858, 424 other candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language but without Mathematics.
Further, Adenipekun acknowledged that there were cases of malpractice but it was minimal .
“ For cases that are established as in other previous examinations , the council is already looking at them , ” he said.
He added that this year’ s examination witnessed the participation of a total of 1, 328 candidates with varying degrees of special needs .
According to him , out of the number , 251 candidates are visually challenged, 783 with impaired hearing; 123 others have low vision while 88 others are spastic cum mentally challenged. He added that 83 of them were physically challenged.
The HNO said that the candidates , who have fulfilled their financial obligations to the council were free to check the details if their performance on the council ’s result website .