Nursing Admission: Failed WAEC Subjects, Pending NECO Results Leave Candidates Stranded

The race for admission into nursing programmes is some schools in Nigeria has become uncertain for some candidates who failed one or more subjects in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and are waiting for the release of their National Examinations Council (NECO) results to meet the admission requirements.

With some nursing institutions closing or nearing the end of their admission windows, the affected candidates are caught between the hope of using their NECO results to replace failed WAEC subjects and the fear that the results may arrive too late.

One of the affected candidates, Mercy Christopher, told our correspondent that the hurdle has become a race against time after she failed Physics in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination conducted by the West African Examinations Council.

Christopher, who attended Federal Government Girls’ College, Gboko, Benue State, had hoped to secure admission into the NKST College of Nursing Sciences, Mkar, where she applied to study Nursing.

She participated in the institution’s screening examination recently, but her hopes of completing the admission process with another examination result have been threatened by the delay in the release of the 2026 National Examinations Council results.

This has left her in uncertainty as the institution’s admission window for the 2026/2027 academic session has already closed.

The NKST College of Nursing Sciences, Mkar, had announced the sale of Post-UTME screening forms for its ND/HND Nursing programme and stated that applicants must have at least five O’Level credit passes in English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics in not more than two sittings.

The institution also required applicants to have scored at least 150 in the 2026 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, with the college listed as their first choice.

The deadline for the application was August 18, 2026, while the screening examination was scheduled for August 20.

For Christopher, she met all the other requirements, but the timing of the WAEC result and the delayed NECO result has created a difficult situation.

Although she had written NECO with the expectation that the result could provide the missing Physics credit, the result is not yet available, as the 2026 NECO examination is still undergoing marking and is expected to be released around early September.

This means that by the time the result becomes available, the admission window of some nursing institutions may already have closed, leaving candidates who have potentially satisfied the O’Level requirements through NECO with little opportunity to present their results.

Christopher’s mother, who spoke to LEADERSHIP, said her daughter’s experience was similar to that of other prospective nursing students caught between examination results and admission deadlines.

She appealed to the government and regulatory authorities to encourage tertiary institutions to give candidates reasonable time to present results from examination bodies whose results are released later.

She said, “My daughter sat for WAEC and unfortunately did not make the required credit in Physics. She also registered for NECO because we knew she could use the result to correct the situation.

“She has already participated in the screening exercise, but the problem now is that the NECO result is not out. We are being asked to meet an admission deadline when the examination body has not even released the result.

“This is not something the candidates can control. They have written the examinations and are waiting for the results. Government should look into this situation and encourage schools to give students some time to present their NECO results.

“There are many students in this situation. Some passed WAEC but have one or two subjects they need to replace with NECO. If the NECO result comes out after the admission deadline, such students may lose the opportunity to gain admission despite having the required qualifications,” she said.

According to her, the family may now have to reconsider its plans if her daughter is unable to secure admission this year.

“We are already planning that she may have to write JAMB again next year and reapply. It is painful because she has been preparing for Nursing and has already gone through the screening process,” she said.

The Mkar institution’s admission requirements specifically state that applicants for the ND/HND General Nursing programme must have five credit passes in English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics in not more than two sittings.

The institution also listed a minimum age requirement of 16 years and a minimum 2026 JAMB score of 150 for the programme.

The institution’s admission notice also indicated that the ND2 entry route for registered midwives has a later application deadline of October 22, 2026, with screening scheduled for October 23.