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The National Examinations Council (NECO) has launched investigations into widespread examination malpractice involving 38 schools across 13 states during the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE, Internal).
Registrar of the council, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, disclosed this in Minna, Niger State, on Wednesday while announcing the release of the 2025 SSCE results.
According to him, the schools involved in mass cheating will be invited for questioning before sanctions are applied. He explained that the cases are part of a total of 3,878 instances of malpractice recorded this year—far lower than the 10,094 cases documented in 2024.
“During the conduct of the 2025 SSCE, 38 schools were identified for whole-school (mass) cheating across 13 states. They will be invited to the Council for discussions, after which appropriate sanctions will follow,” Wushishi said.
He added that nine supervisors had also been recommended for blacklisting: three in Rivers, one in Niger, three in the FCT, one in Kano, and one in Osun State. Their offences included poor supervision, aiding and abetting, lateness, unruly conduct, assault, and insubordination.
The registrar also drew attention to a major disruption in Lamorde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, where a communal clash between July 7 and 25 halted examinations across eight schools. A total of 13 subjects and 29 papers were affected. Discussions with the state government are ongoing to reschedule the exams for the affected schools.
Reaffirming NECO’s commitment to credibility, Wushishi said: “The Council is determined to safeguard the integrity of its examinations. We will not hesitate to sanction any school or official found guilty of malpractice or negligence.”
Despite the malpractice concerns, the 2025 results showed encouraging performance. Out of 1,367,210 registered candidates (685,514 males and 681,696 females), 1,358,339 eventually sat for the exams. Of these, 818,492 candidates—representing 60.26%—obtained at least five credits, including Mathematics and English. A larger 84.26% (1,144,496 candidates) scored five credits and above irrespective of the two core subjects.
NECO also recorded 1,622 candidates with special needs: 941 with hearing impairments (586 males and 355 females) and 191 with visual impairments (111 males and 80 females).
In the state-by-state breakdown, Kano led with 68,159 candidates (5.02%) earning five credits and above, including English and Mathematics. Lagos followed with 67,007 (4.93%), while Oyo placed third with 48,742. At the bottom, Gabon—one of NECO’s foreign centres—produced no candidate with five credits and above, including Mathematics and English.
Looking forward, Prof. Wushishi announced that NECO would now conduct SSCE on 38 subjects in line with the revised national curriculum. He explained that the change would shorten the exam process and reduce the waiting period for results.
He also assured that the Council would continue to strengthen monitoring and transparency, noting that the decline in malpractice cases this year reflects the seriousness of its oversight measures.
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