Ibrahim Wushishi, registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), has announced plans to deepen collaboration with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to strengthen candidates’ result verification and expand computer-based examinations (CBT) across Nigeria.
Wushishi spoke on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to NOUN, where he said the partnership would help safeguard the integrity of NECO certificates and ensure that only candidates with authentic results are admitted into the university.
He congratulated Uduma Uduma, the NOUN vice-chancellor, on his appointment, describing him as a seasoned administrator with a strong record of academic integrity.
According to the NECO registrar, the visit had three objectives — to formally felicitate with the new vice-chancellor, to explore collaboration on result authentication through NECO’s e-verify platform, and to identify areas of cooperation in computer-based testing.
Wushishi said NECO previously handled result verification manually, a process that often took several months to complete for institutions in more than 50 countries.
He added that the introduction of the NECO e-Verify platform two years ago has significantly improved efficiency, with almost five million results already verified electronically.
“With the API integration, institutions can seamlessly confirm the authenticity of candidates’ NECO results without delay,” he said, urging NOUN to integrate with the platform.
The registrar also highlighted NOUN’s nationwide CBT infrastructure, noting that NECO is aligning with the policy direction of the federal ministry of education to migrate fully from paper-based examinations to computer-based testing.
In his response, Uduma welcomed the initiative and assured NECO of the university’s readiness to collaborate, stressing that result verification remains critical to academic integrity.
“Any certificate that is not verified is a paper tiger,” he said.
Uduma disclosed that NOUN admits about 40,000 students annually and is determined to ensure that all candidates present authentic credentials.
He added that the university will begin integration with the NECO e-Verify platform from the 2026/1 admission cycle.
The vice-chancellor also affirmed NOUN’s willingness to support NECO’s CBT expansion, citing the university’s network of about 128 study centres nationwide.
To fast-track implementation, Uduma announced the constitution of a joint committee made up of academic and ICT officials from both institutions to interface on the project.
Both NECO and NOUN expressed optimism that the collaboration would strengthen the credibility of public examinations and improve the quality of Nigeria’s education system.
