THE National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of its 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal).
The result showed a 60.2 per cent pass rate in English Language and mathematics, the two core subjects that often determine admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
NECO Registrar, Ibrahim Wushishi, a professor, announced the results at the Council’s headquarters in Minna, Niger State, on Wednesday, September 17.
The release came 54 days after the last paper was written.
According to Wushishi, out of 1,358,339 candidates who sat for the June/July examination, 818,492 secured five credits and more, including English Language and Mathematics. He said 1,144,496 candidates got five credits in all subjects, representing 84.2 per cent of candidates who sat for the examination.
He added that the 2025 exams, conducted between June 16 and July 25, recorded a significant drop in malpractice cases from over 10,000 in 2024 to 3,878 this year, a reduction of 61.6 per cent.
Still, 38 schools in 13 states were indicted for mass cheating, while nine supervisors across Rivers, Niger, FCT, Kano, and Osun were recommended for blacklisting over poor supervision, aiding malpractice, lateness, and unruly conduct.
“During the conduct of the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination, 38 schools were found to have been involved in whole-school (mass) cheating in 13 states. They will be invited to the Council for discussion, after which appropriate sanctions will be applied,” Wushishi said.
He also disclosed that 1,622 candidates with special needs sat for the examination, including 586 hearing-impaired boys and 355 girls, alongside 191 visually impaired candidates.
Wushishi noted that candidates from Adamawa State’s Lamorde Local Government were affected by communal clashes that disrupted their exams between July 7 and 25. He explained that negotiations with the state government were underway to allow them do a make-up sitting.
A state-by-state breakdown showed Kano topping the performance chart with 68,159 candidates (5.02 per cent) scoring five credits, including English and mathematics. Lagos followed with 67,007 (4.93 per cent), while Oyo placed third with 48,742.
The registrar stressed that NECO had reduced the subjects examined to 38, in line with a reviewed curriculum, to make results faster to process and release.
He also pointed to ongoing reforms, including the gradual transition from the traditional paper-and-pencil model to computer-based testing (CBT), which began this year with selected public and private schools.
The ICIR reported in August that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, another examination body, released the reviewed results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, following a 24-hour shutdown of its results portal to fix what it called “technical bugs” linked to a new anti-malpractice feature.
The WAEC had temporarily denied access to the results on August 7, citing anomalies caused by its recently introduced “paper serialisation” system.
The system, designed to reduce collusion in exam halls, was deployed in core subjects including mathematics, English language, biology, and economics, according to the council.
The ICIR reported that initial results released on August 4 showed a drastic decline in performance, with only 38.32 per cent of candidates obtaining at least five credits, including English and mathematics.
This triggered public outrage and allegations of operational lapses, which would later lead to the council announcing a review of the results.
A reporter with the ICIR
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