The National Examinations Council (NECO) has scheduled the 2025 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for Saturday, June 14, 2025. The exam, designed for Primary 6 pupils seeking admission into Junior Secondary School 1 (JSS1) at Federal Government Unity Colleges across Nigeria, will be held in designated centres nationwide.
NECO stated that the NCEE is open to pupils who completed their primary education during the 2024/2025 academic session. Parents and guardians have been urged to ensure their children are present at the assigned examination venues on the scheduled date.
Candidates for the NCEE are typically between the ages of 10 and 13. They will be tested in Mathematics, English Studies, Quantitative and Verbal Aptitude, General Science, and Social Studies. Successful candidates will gain admission into one of the 110 Unity Colleges for the 2025/2026 academic year. These institutions are managed by the Federal Ministry of Education and are noted for offering quality education with access to qualified teachers and subsidized tuition.
NECO, a national examination body, also administers the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE). In a broader policy shift, the Federal Government announced a transition to full computer-based testing (CBT) for NECO and WAEC exams by mid-2026. The CBT rollout will begin in November 2025 for objective questions, with both objective and essay sections to be fully digitized by May/June 2026.
Meanwhile, the recently concluded 2024 SSCE for external candidates saw a pass rate of 67.35% among 86,067 registered candidates, reflecting ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s examination system.
