2026 SSCE: NECO Releases Results as 58.67% of Candidates Pass English and Mathematics
Emmanuel Femi Adedayo 
The National Examinations Council (NECO) has recorded a 58.67 percent pass rate in its 2026 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal, with 804,948 candidates obtaining five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics.
The result was announced 63 days after the last paper of the examination was written by Dantata Wushishi, Registrar of NECO, at a press conference on Thursday in in Minna, Niger State.
Wushishi in a statement said 1,378,048 candidates registered for the examination, while 1,371,992 candidates eventually sat for the exercise, which commenced on June 15 and ended on July 23, 2026.
According to him, 1,162,118 candidates, representing 84.70 percent of those who sat for the examination, obtained five credits and above irrespective of their performance in English Language and Mathematics.
He, however, said 804,948 candidates, representing 58.67 percent, met the benchmark of five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics.
The NECO registrar also disclosed that examination malpractice declined significantly during the 2026 exercise, with 1,406 candidates found involved in various forms of malpractice, compared with 3,878 candidates recorded in 2025.
He said the figures represented a 64.74 percent reduction in examination malpractice.
Wushishi attributed the improvement partly to the vigilance and support of security agencies, particularly the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of State Services (DSS), during the examination.
He said their presence helped reinforce discipline, deter wrongdoing and protect the integrity of the examination process.
On state performance, Wushishi said Kano State recorded the highest number of candidates who obtained five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics, with 74,413 candidates.
Lagos State followed with 72,496 candidates, while Oyo State ranked third with 55,543 candidates meeting the same benchmark.
He said the Southwest geopolitical zone recorded the highest share in the overall performance ranking based on candidates who obtained five credits and above irrespective of their performance in English Language and Mathematics.
The Southwest accounted for 24.60 percent, followed by the Northwest with 22.10 percent, North Central with 19.00 percent, Northeast with 14.70 percent, South-South with 10.53 percent and Southeast with 9.07 percent.
Wushishi said the Council provided separate rankings based on candidates who obtained five credits and above, with classifications for performance with and without credits in English Language and Mathematics, as well as gender-based rankings.
In the North Central, Benue led the state-level ranking with 3.82 percent, followed by Nasarawa with 3.66 percent.
In the Southeast, Anambra topped the ranking with 2.92 percent, followed by Enugu with 2.14 percent, while Ebonyi and Abia recorded 1.15 percent and 0.57 percent respectively.
For the South-South, Rivers ranked first with 3.03 percent, followed by Edo with 2.17 percent, Delta with 1.84 percent, Akwa Ibom with 1.61 percent and Cross River with 1.30 percent.
Wushishi said the detailed state, geopolitical zone and gender rankings were contained in the statistical tables accompanying the 2026 SSCE Internal results.
He also disclosed that candidates at NECO examination centres in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Niger Republic recorded no candidate with five credits and above under the stated benchmark.
The registrar commended President Bola Tinubu for reappointing him for a second tenure and the Minister of Education, for his confidence in the leadership of the Council.
He assured stakeholders that NECO would continue to strengthen its examination processes and uphold the integrity of its assessments.
“We will remain committed to our mandate and continue to uphold the integrity of our examinations,” Wushishi said.
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