NECO Releases 2025 SSCE Results, Records 60% Pass Rate

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has officially released the results of the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE – internal), 54 days after the last paper was written.

Announcing the results in Minna, Niger State, on Wednesday, the Registrar of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, disclosed that 818,492 candidates, representing 60.26% of those who sat for the exams, scored five credits and above, including Mathematics and English.

He further explained that 1,144,496 candidates, or 84.26%, secured five credits and above irrespective of Mathematics and English.

According to Wushishi:

• A total of 1,367,210 candidates registered for the examination (685,514 males and 681,696 females).
• 1,358,339 candidates eventually sat for the exam (680,292 males and 678,047 females).
• 1,622 candidates had special needs, including 941 with hearing impairment and 191 with visual impairment.

Drop in Examination Malpractice

The Registrar also noted a sharp decline in malpractice cases. 3,878 candidates were caught in 2025, compared to 10,094 in 2024, representing a reduction of 61.58%.

He revealed that 38 schools across 13 states were involved in mass cheating and would face disciplinary measures. Additionally, nine supervisors from Rivers, Niger, FCT, Kano, and Osun States were recommended for blacklisting over misconduct ranging from aiding malpractice to indiscipline.

Wushishi also highlighted a disruption in Adamawa State, where communal clashes in Lamorde Local Government Area affected eight schools. This led to the cancellation of 13 subjects across 29 papers. Discussions are ongoing with the state government to reschedule the exams for the affected students.

Top Performing States

The breakdown of performance by states showed that:

• Kano led with 68,159 candidates (5.02%) scoring five credits and above, including Mathematics and English.
• Lagos followed with 67,007 candidates (4.93%).
• Oyo placed third with 48,742 candidates.
  The poorest-performing centre was Gabon, where no candidate scored five credits and above, including Mathematics and English.

Curriculum Review and New Examination Model

Prof. Wushishi also confirmed that NECO will now conduct SSCE in 38 subjects only, in line with the revised national curriculum. This adjustment is expected to reduce result processing time and enhance efficiency.

Furthermore, NECO has begun transitioning from the traditional Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) model to a Computer-Based Test (CBT) model. Some private and public schools have already participated in the first phase of this transition.

The Registrar described the overall outcome as encouraging and reaffirmed NECO’s commitment to credible examinations and timely result release.