NECO Receives Multiple Requests to Verify Nigerian Students' Results from Canada, US, UK, and Other Countries – Registrar

The National Examinations Council (NECO) said it has continued to receive frequent requests from foreign institutions seeking to verify the results of Nigerian students studying in countries such as the United States, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, in order to facilitate their continued education abroad.

The Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this in a brochure highlighting the council’s achievements over the past 25 years since its establishment.

According to him, the growing demand for result verification underscores the credibility and international acceptance of NECO certificates within global education systems.

Prof. Wushishi noted that such requests are treated with urgency, as they reflect confidence in NECO’s assessment standards and its alignment with global academic and professional requirements.

He explained that beyond being a member of the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA), NECO has built a reputation for producing reliable results that are widely accepted across borders.

The council stated that its examinations are currently recognised and utilised in at least nine countries, including the Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Togo, Burkina Faso, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Prof. Wushishi also revealed that since its inception in 2000, a total of 28,222,218 candidates have registered for NECO examinations, representing a significant expansion in access to national assessment systems.

He further noted that one of NECO’s most important but often overlooked achievements is its role in ending the monopoly previously held by a single regional examination body in Nigeria.

In his words:

“Perhaps NECO’s single most consequential achievement is one that is easy to overlook. It ended WAEC’s monopoly over post-primary examinations in Nigeria. Before 1999, WAEC administered senior secondary examinations for the entire country, a body headquartered outside Nigeria and designed to serve multiple Anglophone West African nations simultaneously.”

He added that critics of the previous arrangement argued that it limited Nigeria’s educational autonomy and failed to fully reflect domestic curriculum priorities.

“NECO changed this by conducting the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) for both internal and external candidates, alongside the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE), creating genuine competition in the assessment space,” he said.

Prof. Wushishi further disclosed that NECO’s enrolment has grown significantly over the years, rising from about 890,000 candidates in its maiden SSCE in 2000 to over 1.2 million by 2022, with a cumulative total exceeding 24 million candidates.

The council maintained that this growth reflects increasing trust in its examinations and its expanding role in Nigeria’s education and assessment landscape.