61,000 Pupils Battle For Unity Colleges’ Slots

Federal government has released the results of the 2025 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) into Junior Secondary School (JSS1) classes in the country’s Unity Colleges, with about 61,000 battling for slots.

The results were announced on Wednesday in Abuja by the minister of state for education, Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmad.

The minister described the NCEE as a highly competitive annual examination conducted for Nigerian children at home and abroad who aspire to gain admission into Unity Colleges. These institutions symbolise national integration and academic excellence.

This year’s edition of the examination was held on Saturday, June 14, 2025, across the 36 states of the federation, as well as in Benin Republic and Togo, for Nigerian students residing abroad.

She disclosed that 64,578 candidates registered for the 2025 examination, 61,290 of whom took the test, while 3,288 were absent.

Of the maximum obtainable score of 210, thirteen candidates emerged as top scorers with 202 marks each, while 27 candidates recorded the lowest score. The minister also raised concerns about examination malpractice, revealing that 52 candidates were caught cheating during the exercise, 50 from Rivers State and two from Lagos State.

In a related development, Prof. Ahmad presented the outcome of the entrance examination into the Federal Government Academy (FGA), Suleja in Niger State, a school established for gifted and talented students.
The minister said 3,421 candidates registered for the examination, 3,141 sat for it, while 280 were absent. The highest score recorded in that test was 194, while the lowest remained one.
She reaffirmed that the existing admission guidelines into Federal Unity Colleges will remain in place.

These include 60 percent of slots reserved strictly for candidates on merit, 30 percent allocated based on equality of states, and the remaining 10 percent for exigency or exceptional cases. She called on the Senior Secondary Education Department to ensure all admission processes are concluded promptly and thoroughly comply with the established criteria.

She said, “The NCEE results are as follows: 64,578 candidates registered for the 2025 NCEE; 61,290 candidates sat for the examination; 3,288 were absent. Out of the maximum obtainable score of 210, thirteen (13) candidates obtained the highest score of 202, while 27 candidates obtained the lowest score of 1.

“This year, an unprecedented number of 52 candidates (2 candidates from Lagos State and 50 candidates from Rivers State) were involved in examination malpractice; while

“The highlights of the FGA examination are: 3,421 candidates registered for the examination, 3,141 candidates sat for the examination, 280 candidates were absent. The highest score is 194 while the lowest is 1,” she added.