The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE – Internal) results, revealing both impressive student achievements and serious concerns over examination malpractice.
NECO’s Registrar, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, announced that 1,367,210 candidates registered for the exam, with 1,358,339 sitting for the tests. Of these, 60.26% (818,492 candidates) earned five credits or more, including Mathematics and English, while 84.26% (1,144,496) secured five credits or more in all subjects, regardless of the two core languages.
Among those who participated were 1,622 special-needs candidates, including students with hearing and visual impairments, albinism, autism, low vision, and the rare fingerprint condition known as adermatoglyphia.
Despite these achievements, NECO reported 3,878 cases of malpractice—a 61.58% drop compared to 10,094 cases in 2024. Still, 38 schools in 13 states were flagged for “whole-school” mass cheating. NECO said these schools would be summoned for discussions before sanctions are imposed.
The council also recommended nine supervisors for blacklisting due to misconduct, which included aiding cheating, lateness, insubordination, and poor oversight. These supervisors were based in Rivers, Niger, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, and Osun States.
In Lamorde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, eight schools could not complete their exams due to a communal clash that forced NECO to postpone their papers from July 7 to July 25. Their results remain withheld pending further arrangements.
Wushishi praised the swift release of the results—just 54 days after the final paper—and commended stakeholders for their role in reducing malpractice. He described the 2025 SSCE as one of NECO’s most successful in recent years, despite the challenges.
The council has urged affected schools and supervisors to cooperate fully with the investigation to safeguard the integrity of future examinations.
