The National Examinations Council, NECO, has issued a strong warning to school owners and stakeholders, urging them to stop enrolling candidates for its exams through proxies.
The practice, NECO stated, has led to identity theft and the production of fake results. In a statement released on Monday in Abuja by Azeez Sani, the council’s acting Director of Information and Public Relations, NECO emphasized its commitment to eliminating all forms of exam malpractice. Sani outlined several measures the council has implemented to prevent impersonation, including the use of biometric data capturing devices, customized answer booklets, and certificates embossed with candidates’ photographs and birth dates.
Additionally, NECO launched the “e-verify” platform in 2023 to verify exam results and detect fraudulent activities. Any certificate not verified through the platform is considered fake, Sani stated.
The council urged state education ministries and school proprietors to ensure only genuine candidates’ details are submitted for NECO registration. Sani also disclosed that the results of candidates found guilty of impersonation in the 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination, SSCE, had been withheld, as part of NECO’s stringent anti-malpractice policies.
READ ALSO : NECO releases 2024 results, 60.55% of candidates pass
Recall that in September, NECO took significant steps against mass cheating in the 2024 SSCE. The council summoned the management of 40 secondary schools across 17 states for alleged involvement in organized cheating during the exams.
NECO Registrar, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, made the disclosure while announcing the release of the 2024 SSCE results during a press conference in Minna, the capital of Niger State. Wushishi disclosed that 8,437 candidates were found guilty of exam malpractice in 2024, a reduction of 30.1 percent compared to the 12,030 candidates involved in 2023.
The schools implicated in the malpractice would be invited for a meeting with the council, where appropriate sanctions would be decided. One school in Ekiti State faced de-recognition for mass cheating in two core subjects, while 21 exam supervisors across 12 states were recommended for blacklisting due to offenses ranging from aiding malpractice, absconding, and negligence to more serious acts like extortion and drunkenness.
On a positive note, over 60 percent of candidates passed the examination with credits in both English Language and Mathematics. Out of the 1,376,423 students registered for the exam, 1,367,736 actually sat for it. Among them, 828,824 candidates (60.55 percent) achieved five credits or more, including in both key subjects. Additionally, 83.90 percent of the candidates earned at least five credits regardless of English and Mathematics.
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