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The National Common Entrance Examination is how a primary school pupil gets into JSS1 at a Federal Unity College. NECO administers it, it costs ₦5,940, and it is sat on a single Saturday nationwide. Your child picks six schools, one from each geopolitical zone, and places are allocated against each school’s carrying capacity.
- Administered by
- NECO, for the Federal Ministry of Education
- Portal
- ncee.neco.gov.ng
- Who sits it
- Final-year primary pupils who are not less than 10 years old by September of the exam year
- Fee
- ₦5,940 per candidate
- 2026 registration
- 5 January to 9:00am on Saturday 6 June 2026
- 2026 exam date
- Saturday 6 June 2026
- School choices
- Six, one per geopolitical zone
- Result checking
- No token required
Registration closes the morning of the examIn 2026 the portal closed at 9:00am on Saturday 6 June, the same day the examination was sat. That is unusual and it misleads parents into thinking there is more time than there is. Treat the exam date as the registration deadline and register months earlier.
The age rule is firm
NECO’s wording: only final year pupils of primary schools who shall not be less than ten years by September of the examination year are eligible. A child who turns ten in October is not eligible that cycle.
How to register
Online only, at ncee.neco.gov.ng. Create an account, activate it, pay, enter biodata including your child’s NIN, upload a passport photograph, then print the photocard.
Bank transfer is not acceptedNECO accepts card, payment at a bank branch, USSD, internet banking, wallet and eNaira. A direct bank transfer will not be recognised and the money is painful to recover. Use one of the listed channels.
Check every detail before submitting. After registration there is no change of centre, name or passport photograph. A non-validation charge of ₦4,000 applies where a registration is not validated.
What is examined
| Paper | Part A | Part B |
|---|---|---|
| Paper I | Mathematics and Basic Science/Technology | English Studies and National Values Education |
| Paper II | Quantitative and Vocational Aptitude | Verbal Aptitude |
Half the examination is aptitude rather than curriculum. Quantitative and verbal aptitude reward practice with the question formats, which is the single highest-return preparation a parent can arrange.
Choosing the six schools
One per geopolitical zone, which is a deliberate design: the Unity Colleges exist to mix children from across the country, so you cannot list six schools in your own state.
Where a school is oversubscribed, candidates are reassigned according to carrying capacity. The practical implication is that your lower choices are not decoration. Treat all six as real possibilities, and research the schools outside your zone properly before listing them.
NCEE is not the BECE
NECO runs both, which is why they get confused. NCEE takes a primary school pupil into JSS1. The BECE is sat three years later, at the end of JSS3, to move into SS1. Different candidates, different purpose, three years apart.
Sources
- NECO 2026 NCEE Advert and Poster, General Information, neco.gov.ng. Eligibility and age rule, registration window and closing time, fee, payment channels, registration steps, subject structure, examination date, six-school selection and reassignment by carrying capacity, no-change rule, non-validation charge.
- NECO FAQ, neco.gov.ng. Confirmation that no token is required to check NCEE results.
- NCEE registration portal, ncee.neco.gov.ng.
The fee, the registration window and the examination date change every cycle, and the age cut-off month is set per cycle. Reviewed each January when NECO publishes the new advert.