NECO registration 2024
NECO registration is the collection of personal details of aspiring NECO candidates and uploading them online. This is done by a NECO candidate’s school or examination centre.
This process is done both offline and online because the school will collect details of students in an offline database, and upload them online at a later date.

As more information is collected, it will be updated in the online database. Hence, offline registration is where the bulk of the work is done in the process of registering candidates for the NECO examination. The online process is just to upload any collected data and synchronize it with those collected earlier.
NECO offline registration
The NECO offline registration starts with the NECO exam centre (the secondary school to register candidates) getting the NECO SSCE application from the exam board’s official site www.neco.gov.ng.
The school will need a manual on the step-by-step procedures to use in the offline and online NECO registration. This manual can also be gotten from the exam board’s website.
NB: The NECO exam registration process has formalities of getting a candidate’s bio-data, which are collected offline, and as any candidate pays for the year’s NECO exam, his details will be uploaded online. Hence online registration is done when a candidate pays for his NECO examination.
This time-to-time transmission is to avoid cases of data loss.
=> Biometric data capture: This is a process of NECO offline registration where a candidate’s fingerprints are captured and stored, pending its online upload.
The application used for biometrics can only be downloaded from the exam body’s official website and SSCE internal dashboard. This is an important process in NECO registration because, without it, there will be no online upload of data.
There is a need for schools to make their candidates cross-check their data (names, pic, sex, subjects, date of birth). This change can be best observed on the preview page of the biometric data application, and changes can be effected by going back to do so through the NECO offline application.
Few things to note about the biometric data capturing stage
- Candidates are expected to notify their schools about any physical disability that may prevent them from having their biometrics data taken.
- There is zero tolerance for willful impersonation or otherwise. Candidates are not allowed to register their thumbprint on behalf of any other candidate, who’s going to sit for the exam. Any candidate whose biometric data does not match during verification will be treated as an impersonator.
- Blind candidates or any candidate with any sight-related problem will have their data captured like everyone else, but their sight issue must be stated in the biometric data capture stage. There are two categories of visually impaired candidates recognized by NECO. They are: Candidates with Low vision and Blind candidates.
Offline validation of data
After students’ bio-data are collected offline, schools are mandated to have their students cross-check their data to ensure there were no errors in any of them. This must be done before the bio-data are uploaded online.
Method of payment for NECO registration and upload
Every payment to be made should be made through the school portal on the NECO Website.
When payment is made into NECO’s treasury, a quota is allocated based on how much was deposited, and the number of students whose fees are covered by that amount. Schools can select the “check all” to include all their candidates if their payments have been collected.
The school also has a choice of ticking the individual candidate’s name to flag him as a candidate that has paid his NECO registration fee. Payment, in this case, is made in installments, but the initial payment must cover that of at least 20 students, or the unviable centre fee will have to be paid.
Post-payment procedures
After the fees have been paid, the allocated quota and the accompanying receipt of payment for each school are sent to the NECO administrator. A copy of the receipt from the transaction history of the school can also be extracted and sent to the NECO zonal office. This transaction history is sent alongside the validation list from the school.
After allocated quotas have been filled, the students successfully registered and uploaded. The candidates will be issued registration numbers which will be written on their final photocard and validation list. At the end of the registration, the school should print out the final validation list and give it to the candidates, so that they will sign beside their names.
NB: the final validation list and payment receipt which is to be submitted to the
NECO zonal office will have to be signed by the principal officer of each school before it can be submitted.
Frequently asked questions about NECO registration
What is the use of the NECO photocard?
The final photocard which bears both the candidate’s registration number and his photo can be used as a pass into the NECO exam hall and for biometric data verification, which can hold at any point during the examination.
What’s the minimum number of candidates that a school can register for NECO?
According to NECO, the minimum number of candidates that a NECO exam centre or secondary school can field is 20.
Is there any penalty for a centre that doesn’t have more than 50 candidates?
There is no penalty or any fee for any Exam centre that has less than 50 candidates.
However, there is a penalty for any NECO centre that presents fewer than 20 candidates for registration. The fee is called the ‘Unviable centre fee’.
What is the amount paid for the Unviable centre fee?
The Unviable centre fee is N50,000
The NECO registration has two phases: offline and online phases.
The offline NECO registration is the most important part because this is where the data to be used for the online registration is collated. When the offline data have been compiled, it will be uploaded online onto the school portal on the NECO website.
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