By Jimmy Jackson
The National Examinations Council (NECO) commenced its transition from paper-based to Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) on Tuesday, July 22, 2025.
Registrar of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, who monitored the exams at Government Secondary School, Maitama, alongside members of the Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), reaffirmed NECO’s readiness for full CBT adoption.
The examination marks the first time NECO is exploring the use of CBT to conduct the O-level examination in selected centres in Nigeria.
Wushishi said, “NECO is ready as a professional body to conduct examinations using any medium.
“We may have challenges of infrastructure, that is obvious, but then that will not bring us down not to do it
“There are facilities that will give us the opportunity to conduct CBT and we are good to go for that. We are all aware that there are certain difficult terrains across the countries where we will not be able to meet up with that, except there are exceptional infrastructures to give us the opportunity to do that.
“But by and large, we are very, very much ready to do that as a professional body. Provisional infrastructures, we are calling for government at the state level to speed up making provision for CBT infrastructures in their states.
“We highly support the process. Because we believe the process will reduce a lot of issues that has to do with examination malpractice and improve the quality of the examination and consequently, the results and certificates.
“We are very happy that the results and certificates are recognized globally and we need to also do more in order to reach out across the world on our certificates and results. So NECO is fully ready as far as that is concerned.”
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa recently mandated NECO and WAEC to begin the conduct of their examinations, using Computer Based Testing(CBT) mode by 2026.
