The National Examinations Council (NECO), Nigeria’s federal examinations body that conducts senior secondary school tests, has released the 2025 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) External results, saying more than 80 per cent of candidates recorded at least five credits.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, by the NECO Registrar and Chief Executive, Professor Dantani Wushishi, during a press conference at the council’s headquarters in Minna, the capital of Niger State in north-central Nigeria. Okay News reports that the council also shared a video statement about the release on its official account on X, the social media platform.
Declaring the release, Wushishi said, “It is my pleasure to declare the 2025 SSCE External Results released.”
He said candidates can check their results online, explaining that, “Candidates can access their results on the NECO official website, www.neco.gov.ng, using their examination registration number.”
According to the council, sixteen subjects were examined. A total of 96,979 candidates registered for the examination, including 51,823 males (53.43 per cent) and 45,156 females (46.56 per cent).
NECO said 95,160 candidates eventually sat for the examination. In English Language, 93,425 candidates took the paper and 73,167 candidates, representing 78.32 per cent, obtained credit and above. In Mathematics, 93,330 candidates sat for the examination and 85,256 candidates, or 91.35 per cent, earned credit and above.
Overall, the council said 68,166 candidates, representing 71.63 per cent, obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics. It added that 82,082 candidates, or 86.26 per cent, recorded five credits and above when English Language and Mathematics were not included as compulsory subjects in the count.
On examination misconduct, Wushishi said 9,016 candidates were booked for various forms of malpractice. He said this represented a 31.7 per cent increase compared with 6,160 cases recorded in 2024.
He added that five supervisors were recommended for blacklisting for allegedly aiding malpractice. The supervisors included two from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria’s seat of government that includes Abuja, and one each from Kano, Adamawa, and Ondo states.
The council also said four centres were recommended for de-recognition over what it described as whole-centre malpractice. It said two of the centres were in Niger State, while the remaining two were in Yobe and Kano states.
The SSCE External is mainly written by private candidates, including people who are not currently in the regular school system but need a recognised secondary school certificate. NECO said it provides the external examination as an option for those who missed the internal version or want to improve earlier results.
