NECO

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The National President of the Parents-Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Haruna Danjuma, has expressed strong doubts over the feasibility of the Federal Government’s plan to fully transition West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) tests to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) by 2026.

In April, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, directed both examination bodies to adopt full CBT formats by the May/June 2026 session.

According to the Minister, the process would begin in November 2024 with multiple-choice papers, followed by full adoption—including essay sections—within two years.

However, speaking to The PUNCH, Danjuma questioned the practicality of this target, citing the inadequate digital infrastructure in many public schools, particularly in rural areas.

“It can only be practicable if the 36 state governors and the FCT Minister provide all senior secondary schools with functional computer laboratories powered by solar energy. They must also provide computer instructors/teachers to train the student,” he said.

He further warned, “Anything short of that, I don’t think it will be possible, because over 70 per cent of students—especially those in rural areas—are not computer literate.”

Danjuma emphasized that unless all state governments invest heavily in ICT infrastructure and personnel, the proposed transition could widen educational inequality and damage the credibility of national exams.

Echoing similar concerns, the Secretary of the Education Rights Committee at the University of Ibadan, Nnamdi Ochi, described the federal directive as another case of “motion without movement.”

In a statement shared journalists, Ochi acknowledged that CBT could improve how public exams are administered but maintained that the current state of public education infrastructure makes the goal unachievable.

“We have also campaigned for improved conditions of learning for students, and WAEC and NECO transitioning into a computer-based examination would be an improvement. However, it goes beyond empty proclamations. For this not to be another colossal failure, the necessary facilities must be put in place,” he said.

Ochi pointed out that many secondary schools in Nigeria lack even the most basic amenities. He noted that in several public schools, classrooms are either dilapidated or nonexistent, and students continue to learn under trees without proper learning materials.

“Presently, the country is far behind and incapable of this transition. Over the years, public education has continued to wallow in decay, without any genuine and sincere effort by the government to uplift it. Many public secondary schools lack classrooms—students are still studying under trees and in dilapidated structures without any learning facilities or equipment,” he said.

He also referenced the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s own struggles with CBT implementation, despite over ten years of adoption.

According to him, JAMB still relies heavily on privately-run computer centres, a practice that has created recurring technical and logistical challenges for candidates.

“A transition to CBT for WAEC and NECO exams will only create more problems under the current conditions. The proclamation by the Federal Government is not driven by genuine concern for students,” Ochi said.

He added that for meaningful reform, the government must commit more funding to revitalising public education and ensure it becomes truly accessible. He also advocated for broader involvement in policy-making.

“There is also a need to democratise the decision-making structures in the education sector by involving students, parents, and education workers through their associations and unions,” he said.

By Hadiza Abdulkadir

The Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police have arrested 20 suspects in Abuja for allegedly hacking into the servers of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examination Council (NECO) to manipulate UTME scores.

The suspects, part of a larger syndicate of over 100 members, reportedly charged candidates between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million to obtain inflated results. Many are said to operate private schools and special centres used for the fraud.

Sources indicate that the group aimed to discredit JAMB’s Computer-Based Testing (CBT) system and discourage its future use by other examination bodies, such as WAEC and NECO.

The arrests follow JAMB’s release of the 2025 UTME results, in which over 78% of candidates scored below 200 out of 400. 

Registrar Ishaq Oloyede earlier cited server faults affecting nearly 380,000 candidates, prompting a resit exam from May 16.

By Hadiza Abdulkadir

The Kano State Government has approved the sum of ₦3 billion for the payment of National Examinations Council (NECO) examination fees for students in public secondary schools across the state.

This initiative, under the leadership of His Excellency Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, aims to support thousands of students by removing financial barriers to completing their secondary education. 

Stakeholders and social media commentators have praised the decision, describing it as a significant step towards promoting educational equity and youth development in the state.

More details later…

By Anwar Usman

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has directed both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to adopt conducting their objective tests via Computer-Based Testing (CBT) by November 2025.

He stated that by May/June 2026, both the objective and essay components of WAEC and NECO examinations are expected to be fully transitioned to CBT, in a bid to mitigate examination malpractice.

The Minister made this statement during an inspection of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) after visiting some of the centres in Abuja on Monday.

Dr. Alausa noted that if JAMB could successfully conduct CBT exams for over 2.2 million candidates nationwide, WAEC and NECO, with less number of applicants compared to JAMB should also be able to replicate the same feat without difficulty.

He further expressed optimism with the conduct of the ongoing UTME and applauded the high level of coordination, transparency, and integrity demonstrated by the Board, describing the examination process as meeting international standards and being almost foolproof against malpractice.

He said under the current administration, the rule of law is respected, allowing institutions like JAMB to operate independently and efficiently.

He cautioned candidates against engaging in examination misconducts, urging them to rely on hard work to achieve success.Earlier, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, gave a detailed account of the technical and operational framework behind the administration of the UTME.

Oloyede revealed that JAMB processed applications from over 2,040,538 candidates seeking admission into 1,452 tertiary institutions, supported by over 2,000 staff members and thousands of ad-hoc personnel managing CBT centres across the federation.

He said JAMB’s robust and secure processes have set a new benchmark for examinations in Nigeria and affirmed the Board’s commitment to sustaining and improving these standards.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

A total of 1,205,888 applicants have enrolled for the current 2023 Senior School Certificate Examination, or SSCE, which is being administered by the National Examinations Council (NECO). 

The Head of Information and Public Relations, Azeez Sani, revealed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja. 

In Jos, while observing the administration of the exam in various schools, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, the NECO registrar, was quoted by Mr. Sani as having stated that 601,074 of the candidates were male and 584,814 were female. 

Based on information gathered from around the nation, he expressed satisfaction with the SSCE’s overall performance in 2023. 

The registrar noted that the 2023 SSCE, which will be finished next week, was the best organised in recent years.

By Nasiru Tijjani

The role of guidance, counselling, and mentoring in our interaction remains strategic and fundamental for achieving one’s goals and objectives. Doubtless, none of us is perfect enough not to be mentored, guided, counselled or nurtured at one point or another. Therefore, mentors, parents, counsellors, teachers and the likes are vested with the power of educating the teeming youth on the implication of age in one’s life.

Honestly, age is one of the problematic issues that need to be treated with extreme caution. But unfortunately, the problem appears to be common even among the students of tertiary institutions, civil servants, corp members and business people. Initially, the issue cannot be divorced entirely from ignorance, carelessness, poor mentorship, parental attitude toward learning, policy review and implementation, selfishness and what have you. Therefore, age is needed in every situation to meet a particular requirement for admission, job or anything.

In Nigeria, as we grow older, our services are no longer needed in some institutions. Accordingly, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has classified ‘date of birth’ as one of the fields in the data of a person to be non-updatable and non-modified unless an approved fee of ₦15,000 is paid. Meanwhile, the country’s birth certificate is issued to the citizens by the Nigeria National Population Commission. However, until recently, ‘date of birth’ has not received proper attention from the youth, parents, teachers, mentors, etc. UNICEF (2016) has reported that only 30 per cent of  Nigerian children under the age of five (5) have their births registered. Meanwhile, the country had one of the highest average birth rates in the world between 2010 and 2015.

In the academic arena, date of birth has denied many people access to secure admission into higher learning institutions at national and international levels. For instance, a friend of mine was recently denied admission to an undergraduate programme in Sudan. The university management told him that was due to his age.

In addition, the National Examination Council (NECO) has reviewed its policy in 2020 and mandated that ‘date of birth’ be written on the candidates’ results. Furthermore, the National Youth Service Corps has introduced a new policy in the year 2020, which states that the date of birth must be written on the national certificate to guard against age falsification. Before this, the NYSC  policy had mandated that graduates should not be or exceed 30 years of age to be enrolled on the scheme. Therefore, with this mandate, many graduates end up collecting exemption letters.

Returning to civil service, ‘date of birth’ has sent many civil servants to early retirement. I discussed with someone who lamented that he had unceremoniously and unduly retired from service due to the age written on his documents. In contrast, his colleagues are still in the system, for they have no problem with age. I trust you have a lot to say on this case. In Nigeria, for example, the retirement age of civil servants is 60 years by birth and 35 years in service. However, on January 20, 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a bill to increase teachers’ retirement age and service years. With the bill in effect, teachers are now to retire at 65 years by birth and 40 by service.

Furthermore, no one can deny that banks attach value to the topic of discussion, and due to this, many people, including the writer of this piece, have suffered the pain of having dual dates of birth. Without hesitation, I can attest that many accounts have been restricted and closed due to irregularities in age. Equally, many transactions have been denied, cancelled or withheld by the banks’ managements. I trust you can give an example of the victim of the problem.

In sum, the issue of ‘date of birth’ should not be treated slightly…Therefore, one will be at an advantage if one pays attention to the date of birth. Because of this, the following recommendations will be helpful:

• One should ensure they have a unique and standard date of birth.

• Parents should be cautious by avoiding anything that will jeopardise their children’s future, such as negligence to NIN enrollment.

• Parents should endeavour to register the birth certificates of their children in time or right at a tender age.

• Birth certificates or date of birth should be committed to memory so that forgetfulness and what have you will not strike between what is and what ought to be.

• No reason, or whatsoever, will warrant you to allow your friends to use your dates of birth.

Nasiru Tijjani writes from Gwaram Tsohuwa, Jigawa State. He can be contacted through tijjaninasiru@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has called on the National Examinations Council, NECO, to adjust its examination timetable to accommodate Muslims who would be celebrating Eid-el-Adha, aka Sallah.  

NECO has scheduled Data Processing (Practical) from 10 am to 1 pm on July 9, which clashes with the first day of Eid.

MURIC Director and Founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, made the call on Sunday, July 3, 2022, in a statement.

“We are fully aware that the clash was not deliberate as NECO had actually demonstrated goodwill by setting aside a whole week for Sallah celebrations (Monday, 11th July to Friday 15th July), and this reflected in its timetable.

“We, therefore, appeal to the NECO authorities to kindly shift the examination of that day alone (Saturday 9th July 2022) to another date in order to enable its teeming Muslim candidates [to] sit for their examinations.” Part of the statement reads.

By Muhammad Aminu

Kano State Government has said that all students who passed its qualifying examination would write the 2022 Senior School Certificate Examination organised by the National Examination Council (NECO).

Kano State Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, told journalists in Kano on Monday that the Kano State Government had settled part of its debt with the examination body.

Malam Garba further debunked what he called “erroneous reports” that the State owes NECO N15 billion naira.

He confirmed that 15, 313 students would sit for the examination as planned.

Mal Garba also hinted that the examination would not hold on Monday as it is only the Test Interpretation Practical for teachers to come up with modalities for the practical exams that would be held Monday.

He said the State Government also paid examination fees for over 1000 students with special needs in public schools to enable them to write this year’s examination.

He said: “We have settled for 15,313 Students with nine credits and the essay part of the exam is commencing on 4th July while the State still paid for 1,018,000 Disabled Students, which means that the story that Kano is holding N15 Billion Debts is untrue”.

According to the Commissioner, 7,500 female students’ registration fees had been also settled as part of a special intervention to promote girl-child education in Kano State.

He added that LGAs cumulatively also sponsored 5,400 students for the examination.

“15,313 students that had 9 credits from qualifying examination; 1,018 students living with disabilities, as well as 7,300 for Special Intervention which is basically for Girl Child Education; and local government councils paid for 5,400 students,” the Commissioner explained.

The Daily Reality reported earlier that Kano students may not write the examination due to debt settlement conflict between Kano State Government and the examination body.

The examination body demands settlement of N700m of the N1.5bn before the students will be allowed.

He said the state government had paid NECO N356m last week and would finalise their discussion any moment to resolve the impasses.

By Muhammad Aminu & Uzair Adam Imam

Kano State students from public secondary schools may not write the 2022 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) due to the failure of the Kano State Government to settle outstanding debt of N1.5bn to the National Examination Council (NECO).

Sources familiar with the matter in the Kano Ministry of Education and NECO office confirmed to The Daily Reality.

The examination body has been in touch with the Kano State Government for the settlement of the debt, but the feedback remained negative.

At least 15000 students from Kano State public secondary schools are expected to sit for the examination, whose fees are paid by the Kano State Government.

Insiders in the NECO Office said that due to the indebtedness, which affects logistics and other obligations, it is less likely for the exam to commence tomorrow, June 27, as scheduled nationwide.

Earlier, Permanent Secretary Kano State Ministry of Education, Hajia Lauratu Ado, told Solacebase that the state government is already discussing with NECO.

Hajia Lauratu said the state government had paid NECO N356m last week. Still, the examination body insisted that N700m must be paid before the state students would be allowed to write the examination.

“We are surprised with the stand of NECO because apart from the payment of N356m, the state government also wrote a commitment letter to the body stating that N50m would be released to the examination body monthly.

“The examination body did not inform us that it did not accept our commitment and the payment of the N356m not until yesterday. Since then, we have been in discussion with NECO so as to address the issue,” quoting the Permanent Secretary.

Hajia Lauratu said the state government is committed to releasing another N300m to enable Kano students to participate in the examination, but the NECO’s portal was not available as at Sunday evening.

NECO’s Public Relations Officer, Azeez Sani, said he is unaware of the development between NECO and Kano State Government.

Meanwhile, parents and teachers lament the lackadaisical attitude with which Kano State Government is handling the education sector in the state.

“Look, I paid the fees for my children and I was told they may not be allowed to write the examination starting tomorrow due to the government owing NECO, how is that my problem?

“As I speak with you, my children are disturbed about the situation,” said a parent.

A secondary teacher who spoke in confidence to The Daily Reality said: “The development is very traumatic. The Kano State Government has failed both teachers and students, let alone parents.

“Government shouldn’t have allowed this to happen. The debt of about N1.5bn should be paid, so our students do not miss this year’s exams.”

It can be recalled that NECO withheld the 2021 results for Kano students due to the outstanding debt the state owed the Council.

Similarly, in 2022, Kano State Government drew public outcry for declining to pay NECO fees for students that failed the Qualifying Examination.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Contrary to rumours claiming that the exam had been postponed to a later date, the National Examination Council has declared that the 2022 Senior School Certificate Examination would begin on Monday, June 27, 2022, for school-based applicants.

Azeez Sani, the council’s head of information and public relations, revealed this information in a statement to journalists in Minna on Saturday.

Sani urged interested parties to reject rumours that the examination would be delayed.

“State Ministries of Education, Principals, Commandants and all stakeholders are enjoined to disregard any speculation on the alleged postponement of the examination,” Sani said, adding that “the Council has put all necessary measures in place to ensure a seamless conduct of the 2022 Senior School Certificate Examination.”