NECO: 9,016 NECO candidates engage in malpractice

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has revealed that 9,016 candidates who sat the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) External were involved in various forms of examination malpractice, raising fresh concerns over the integrity of the exercise despite improved academic outcomes.

The council said the number represents 9.47 per cent of the 95,160 candidates who sat for the examination. The figure marks a significant rise from the 6,160 candidates recorded in 2024, reflecting a 31.7 per cent increase in malpractice cases.

The Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Dantani Ibrahim-Wushishi, made the disclosure yesterday while announcing the release of the 2025 SSCE External results at the council’s headquarters in Minna, Niger State.

According to him, the examination was conducted between November 26 and December 13, 2025, while the marking exercise took place from January 5 to January 21, 2026. He noted that the results were released 52 days after the last written paper, in keeping with NECO’s policy of timely result processing and credible assessment delivery.

While acknowledging the spike in malpractice cases, Ibrahim-Wushishi said the 2025 external examination still recorded an overall pass rate of 71.63 per cent, one of the strongest performances since the introduction of the SSCE External.

He disclosed that 96,979 candidates registered for the examination, comprising 51,823 males (53.43 per cent) and 45,156 females (46.56 per cent). Out of this number, 95,160 candidates eventually sat the examination, including 50,785 males (53.36 per cent) and 44,375 females (46.63 per cent).

Providing a breakdown of subject performance, the NECO registrar said 93,425 candidates sat English Language, out of which 73,167 candidates, representing 78.32 per cent, obtained credit and above. In Mathematics, 93,330 candidates participated, with 85,256 candidates, or 91.35 per cent, scoring credit and above.

Overall, 68,166 candidates, representing 71.63 per cent, obtained five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics, the minimum requirement for admission into tertiary institutions. In addition, 82,082 candidates, or 86.26 per cent, secured five credits and above irrespective of English and Mathematics.

Ibrahim-Wushishi said the SSCE External examination is designed primarily for private candidates, including those who missed the internal examination or seek to improve previously obtained grades. The examination, which covers 16 subjects, provides candidates with a second opportunity to qualify for admission into universities and other tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria.

However, the registrar expressed concern over the scale of malpractice recorded in the 2025 exercise. He disclosed that five examination supervisors were recommended for blacklisting for aiding and abetting malpractice. Two of the supervisors were from the Federal Capital Territory, while one each came from Kano, Adamawa and Ondo States.

In addition, NECO recommended four examination centres for derecognition due to whole-centre malpractice. The affected centres include two in Niger State, and one each in Yobe and Kano States.

The malpractice statistics indicate that nearly one in every ten candidates was involved in examination offences, a development that has renewed concerns among education stakeholders about the effectiveness of deterrence measures and supervision, particularly in external examinations often linked to so-called “miracle centres.”

Beyond malpractice, Ibrahim-Wushishi disclosed that NECO is currently owed about N2 billion by some state governments. He appealed for improved funding and cooperation, warning that sustained indebtedness could undermine the council’s ability to conduct quality examinations nationwide.

He described the release of the 2025 results as another milestone in NECO’s mandate to provide credible assessments and reliable certification, and expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his continued support of the education sector.

Meanwhile, NECO’s concerns over malpractice align with broader federal efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s examination system. It will be recalled that in June 2025, the Federal Ministry of Education declared a zero-tolerance policy toward examination malpractice, extending responsibility beyond candidates to parents, guardians, schools and examination officials.

“Any parent or guardian who enables, supports, or participates in such criminal behaviour will be prosecuted. This administration will not tolerate any attempt to undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s education system,” the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said in an official statement.

The warning followed reports of parents intimidating or assaulting teachers and examination officials enforcing anti-malpractice regulations. As part of the reforms, the Federal Government further directed that any student caught cheating in a national examination would face a three-year ban across all external examination bodies, including NECO, WAEC, JAMB and NABTEB.

The directive was conveyed in a circular dated May 27, 2025, signed by JAMB’s Public Communications Advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin. Issued under Sections 5(1)(c)(iv) and 6 of the JAMB Act, the policy also targets schools, CBT centres and operators of illegal “miracle centres.”

“Students involved in examination malpractice should be barred from sitting for any external examinations in Nigeria for three years using the instrumentality of the NIN. Such a stringent measure will serve as a deterrent to other students and parents,” the circular stated.

Since its establishment in 2000, NECO has conducted the SSCE External annually, with performance trends showing steady improvement over time. Early academic studies indicate that Mathematics pass rates ranged between 29.5 per cent from 2000 to 2004, improving to 47.9 per cent between 2005 and 2009. By 2020, NECO recorded an external pass rate of about 66.5 per cent, a benchmark that has been surpassed in recent years.

In 2023 and 2024, NECO recorded a consistent 67.35 per cent pass rate for candidates with five credits including English and Mathematics, before reaching 71.63 per cent in 2025, one of the highest in the history of the examination.

Yet, the 9.47 per cent malpractice rate recorded in 2025 underscores a lingering contradiction: while academic outcomes are improving, examination integrity remains under strain.

Experts blame parents

In a chat with a civic and fine arts teacher Elder Matthew Ogbodo, also based in Abuja, echoed the focus on parental responsibility, asserting they are central to the problem. “I will see it from the angle of parents who play a critical role in their children getting involved in exam malpractices. Most parents don’t want their kids to fail and repeat and with that they collaborate with some exam officials to get questions out which their children prepare. Parents encourage malpractices,” he said.

Similarly, Dr. Mary Chinwuba, an educationist and Executive Director of Chalcedony Prime School in Abuja, attributed the rising cases of malpractice to parents, peer pressure, and socio-economic factors.

“Parents take a blame on this menace as they encourage their wards to go into malpractice. They dont want their children to waste time as they want them to get out of school as quick as possible and get jobs. Also peer-pressure play a role as the students can be influenced by their colleagues. The socio-economy of the country is also a factor. There is poverty and parents who are struggling will not spend extra resources. We also can’t rule out some exam centers we all know as miracle centers. They don’t care about anything but the numbers and the money they make,” she said.

Also speaking to the issue, Stephen Emmanuel Inyang, a 100-level Agriculture student at the University of Abuja, stated that examination malpractice is rising because students are not required to defend their results.

“The truth is that students don’t defend their results and that has enabled them to get involved in cheating. They copy whether the answers are correct or not and because they are scared of failing,” she said.

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