The Nigerian Government has announced plans to fully deploy privately owned and public Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres for the conduct of school-based Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) from next year.
The Minister of Education, Maruf Tunji Alausa, disclosed this after monitoring a pilot CBT SSCE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) at Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday.
Alausa, who praised NECO for the seamless conduct of the pilot exercise, said future school-based SSCEs would move away from being held within schools and instead take place at designated CBT centres.
“WAEC and NECO exams are school-based exams being conducted at their schools. No, we will move away from that. It is going to be like (the way) JAMB exams are being conducted at CBT centres. We have thousands of CBT centres across the nation. Those are the centres that we are going to use. It’s not a case that students do not have the facilities. Schools do not have the facilities. We have enough people. We also have to expand the value chain of these CBT centres. They should not just be to service JAMB alone,” he said.
The Minister commended NECO for its readiness to transition fully to CBT, describing the pilot phase as proof of the council’s capacity and commitment to examination reforms.
“This is the first in the history of NECO, which is conducting its annual O-Level Certificate exams for SS3 students. This is a pilot that we pushed to have, and I must tell you, I was very impressed with what I saw. I have to commend the Registrar of NECO for the hard work that he and his team have deployed to get us to this stage, because when we decided that we’re going to go CBT, everybody thought this was an insurmountable task, but today, we’ve seen that this is a process, this is a transition that is possible. We just have to work hard to get there. We cannot continue with this madness of exam practice, our exams being caught with cheating, leaked questions, both WAEC and NECO. If we allow this to continue, it will destroy the capacity of our youth, of our children,” he said.
Alausa revealed that NECO and WAEC would commence CBT for objective papers by November, with full transition — including essay papers — expected by 2026.
“I’m a very happy person today that NECO has transited to CBT from paper-based. By November of this year, both NECO and WAEC objective exams will be full CBT. And by next year, 2026, all the essays and objective exams will be CBT. NECO and WAEC will be joining the league of JAMB. We are making significant progress,” he added.
NECO Registrar, Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, speaking at Government Secondary School, Maitama, affirmed the council’s preparedness for the CBT transition.
“We may have challenges of infrastructure, that is obvious, but then that will not bog us down not to do it. 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, because that will 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. And we are very happy that the results and certificates are recognised globally and we need to also do more in order to reach out across the world on our certificates and results,” he said.
Professor Wushishi revealed that a total of 1,367,210 candidates registered for this year’s SSCE — the highest figure recorded so far — comprising 685,551 males and over 681,300 females.
Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), Senator Ekong Samson, while monitoring the examination, pledged lawmakers’ support for a seamless CBT transition.
“We are living in an age of technology. Nigeria must come to terms with what happens anywhere, and whatever measure we need to keep our educational system abreast with the world over, we will do that as legislators,” he said.
He assured that the Senate would continue to monitor the process and ensure measures are in place to guarantee educational quality.
For his part, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, Hon. Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa), who led his committee to monitor the NECO SSCE at Federal Government Boys College, Apo, Abuja, said the visit formed part of the House’s oversight functions.
“NECO is very important to us. This is our own, WAEC is also our own… We are very proud of what NECO is doing under the leadership of Professor Ibrahim Wushishi, and we pray that they sustain the tempo. We have gone round the school and we have seen the students’ commitment,” he said.
PIAK