Daniel Otera
The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the much-awaited 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results, revealing a significant number of schools involved in mass cheating across 13 states. Despite the irregularities, NECO’s Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Dantani Wushishi, declared the examination process as one of the most successful in recent times.
Addressing the public, Wushishi disclosed that 38 schools were implicated in what the Council termed “whole school cheating” during the examination. These cases were observed in 13 states, prompting the NECO leadership to summon the schools for discussions.
“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,” Wushishi stated.
The Council has pledged to apply appropriate sanctions following these findings. In addition, nine examination supervisors were flagged for inappropriate conduct. These supervisors, operating in Rivers, Niger, FCT, Kano, and Osun states, have been recommended for blacklisting due to issues ranging from poor supervision and late arrivals to more severe offenses such as aiding malpractice and insubordination.
Despite these disruptions, the 2025 SSCE is being hailed as a major achievement by NECO. The results were released just 54 days after the last paper was written, an impressive feat in the face of the significant cheating challenges. “I wish to announce that the 2025 Internal SSCE result is hereby released, and it is one of the most successful in recent times,” Wushishi remarked.
Performance statistics from the results paint a positive picture. A total of 1,358,339 candidates sat for the examination, with 60.26% of them achieving at least five credits, including Mathematics and English. Furthermore, 84.26% of candidates obtained five credits or more, regardless of whether Mathematics and English were included. These numbers highlight the overall success of the examination and show improvements in student performance.
A notable achievement for NECO this year was the significant reduction in the number of malpractice cases. The total number of candidates involved in cheating dropped by a staggering 61.58%, with only 3,878 cases of malpractice reported in 2025, compared to 10,094 in 2024. “The number of candidates involved in various forms of malpractice was 3,878, as against 10,094 in 2024, which shows a reduction of 61.58%,” Wushishi emphasized.
This decline suggests that NECO’s ongoing efforts to curb examination malpractices are bearing fruit, although challenges remain.
The examination also saw impressive performances across various states. Kano led the pack with 68,159 candidates achieving five credits and above, followed closely by Lagos with 67,007 candidates. Oyo secured third place with 48,742 candidates meeting the same criteria.
NECO also reported that 1,622 candidates with special needs participated in the examination. Of these, 586 were male candidates with hearing impairments, and 111 were male candidates with visual impairments. The remaining candidates were female, further underscoring NECO’s commitment to inclusivity in education.
Meanwhile, the ongoing communal clashes in Lamorde Local Government Area of Adamawa State disrupted the examination process for several schools. NECO has already begun discussions with the Adamawa State Government to reschedule the exams for affected schools.
“We have since commenced talks with the State Government with a view to conducting the examinations for the affected schools,” Wushishi confirmed.
Wushishi revealed plans to streamline future examination processes. With the implementation of a revised curriculum, NECO intends to reduce the number of subjects in the SSCE, which is expected to result in quicker processing times for results.
“NECO will conduct the SSCE examination on only 38 subjects, which will reduce the waiting time for the results,” he explained.