NECO releases 2025 SSCE results

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has published the results of the 2025 June/July Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE Internal), 54 days after the last paper was written.

Announcing the outcome on Wednesday at a press briefing in Minna, Niger State, NECO Registrar, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, said that of the 1,358,339 candidates who sat for the exam, 818,492 representing 60.26 per cent earned at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics.

Wushishi added that 1,144,496 candidates (84.26 per cent) achieved five credits and above regardless of English and Mathematics.

A total of 1,367,210 students registered for the examination 685,514 males and 681,696 females while 1,358,339 eventually sat, comprising 680,292 males and 678,047 females.

The 2025 SSCE ran from June 16 to July 25. Among the candidates were 1,622 students with special needs, including 941 with hearing impairments (586 males and 355 females) and 191 with visual impairments (111 males and 80 females).

 Drop in Examination Malpractice

The registrar reported a significant decline in malpractice cases: 3,878 candidates were implicated this year, compared to 10,094 in 2024, a drop of 61.58 per cent.

Thirty-eight schools across 13 states were flagged for mass cheating and will face sanctions after council meetings.

Nine supervisors three in Rivers, one in Niger, three in the FCT, one in Kano and one in Osun are recommended for blacklisting for offenses ranging from poor supervision to aiding malpractice and insubordination.

Wushishi also highlighted disruptions in Lamorde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, where communal clashes between July 7 and 25 affected exams in eight schools, leading to the postponement of 13 subjects and 29 papers.

NECO is working with the state government to reschedule the affected papers.

Kano State topped the chart with 68,159 candidates (5.02 per cent) achieving five credits and above, including English and Mathematics. Lagos followed with 67,007 (4.93 per cent), while Oyo ranked third with 48,742 candidates.

Gabon Centre recorded the lowest performance, with no candidate attaining the benchmark.

According to Wushishi, NECO has trimmed the SSCE subject list to 38 under its revised curriculum, aimed at reducing result-processing time.

He also reiterated NECO’s plan to phase out the Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) format in favour of a Computer-Based Test (CBT) model, a transition already underway in selected private and public schools.