NECO releases 2026 SSCE results as pass rate drops to 58.67%

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of the 2026 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for internal candidates, recording a slight decline in overall performance compared to the previous year.

Announcing the results at the council’s headquarters in Minna, Niger State, NECO Registrar and Chief Executive, Professor Dantani Wushishi, disclosed that 804,948 candidates—representing 58.67 per cent of total examinees—obtained five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

The figure reflects a 2.6 per cent drop from the 60.26 per cent pass rate recorded in the 2025 examination cycle.

Despite the marginal drop in core subject pass rates, performance across general subjects remained strong. Over 83 per cent of candidates secured five credits or more regardless of English Language and Mathematics, preserving university entry eligibility for non-degree vocational and direct-entry diploma programs.

Professor Wushishi highlighted a major reduction in examination malpractice, attributing the decline to strict biometric verification, continuous monitoring, and technological surveillance deployed across examination centers nationwide.

“The council has maintained its zero-tolerance policy for examination malpractice,” Professor Wushishi stated during the press briefing. “We have witnessed a noticeable decline in reported cases of cheating this year, owing to improved technological checks and rigorous supervisor vetting.”

However, NECO confirmed that several secondary schools and supervisors found guilty of aiding organized cheating during the June/July sitting have been blacklisted and deregistered from conducting future national examinations.

The release of the results—coming roughly eight weeks after the completion of the final written papers—provides relief to hundreds of thousands of secondary school leavers awaiting credentials to clear Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) tertiary admissions.

Candidates can now access their results on the official NECO portal (results.neco.gov.ng) using purchased result tokens.