The Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Prof. Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, has announced an initiative to strengthen collaboration with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) aimed at improving the verification of candidates’ results and promoting the adoption of computer-based examinations across the country.
During a recent courtesy visit to NOUN, Wushishi emphasized that this partnership is vital for protecting the integrity of NECO certificates, ensuring that only candidates with verified and authentic results are admitted to the university.
Wushishi extended his congratulations to the new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Uduma Oji Uduma, commending him as an experienced administrator with a strong reputation for academic integrity.
The visit centered on three main goals: to formally congratulate the new Vice-Chancellor, to discuss collaboration on result authentication via NECO’s e-Verify platform, and to identify potential areas for cooperation in computer-based testing (CBT).
Elaborating on the need for enhanced verification processes, Wushishi noted that NECO previously managed result verification manually, often taking several months to fulfill requests from institutions in over 50 countries. He highlighted that the implementation of the NECO e-Verify system two years ago has significantly improved efficiency, enabling nearly five million results to be verified electronically.
“With the API integration, institutions can seamlessly confirm the authenticity of candidates’ NECO results without delay,” Wushishi said, urging NOUN to key into the platform.
He also highlighted the university’s extensive CBT infrastructure nationwide, noting that NECO is aligning with the policy direction of the Federal Ministry of Education to migrate fully from paper-based to computer-based examinations.
Responding, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Uduma, welcomed the initiative and assured NECO of the university’s readiness to collaborate.
He stressed that result verification is critical to maintaining academic integrity.
“Any certificate that is not verified is a paper tiger,” he said, adding that NOUN admits about 40,000 students annually and is committed to ensuring that all admitted candidates present authentic credentials.
Uduma disclosed that the university would begin integration with the NECO e-Verify platform from the 2026/1 admission cycle.
He also affirmed NOUN’s willingness to support NECO’s CBT expansion, citing the university’s network of about 128 study centres across the country.
To fast-track implementation, the Vice-Chancellor announced the constitution of a joint committee comprising key academic and ICT officials to interface with NECO.
Both institutions expressed optimism that the partnership would strengthen examination credibility and advance the quality of Nigeria’s education system.
This collaboration marks a significant step towards modernizing examination processes and fostering trust in academic certifications.
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