NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL (NECO)

KM 8, BIDA ROAD, MINNA, NIGER STATE

Email: [email protected] Website: www.neco.gov.ng

To: All State Ministries of Education, FCT Education Secretariat,

All Principals/Commandants.

REGISTRATION GUIDELINES FOR THE 2024 BASIC EDUCATION CERTIFICATE

EXAMINATION (BECE)

Find below the comprehensive procedure and guidelines for the 2024 BECE registration. You are requested
to painstakingly read through, understand and comply with these registration procedure and
guidelines before embarking on the registration exercise. Do not hesitate to ask questions or seek
clarification on any aspect of the registration procedure which you may not have clearly understood.

1.0 ELIGIBILITY FOR REGISTRATION

Principals/Commandants of schools are hereby informed that only candidates in their final year of
Junior Secondary School (i.e. JSS3) are eligible for registration. For the avoidance of doubt, the 2024
BECE is meant for only school-based candidates in Nigeria and overseas. It is not meant for private
candidates. Principals/Commandants of schools and State Ministries of Education should therefore
endeavour to enforce the eligibility condition.

2.0 REGISTRATION PROCEDURE

The 2024 BECE registration will be both OFFLINE and ONLINE.

2.1 ACCESS/CLAIM OF SCHOOL’S ONLINE PORTAL

The 2024 BECE registration requires:
a. Existing schools to continue to access their portal using their login details. Existing schools with
login challenges should use the “forget password” option or dispute their centre.
b. Fresh schools to claim their online portal using School’s official email address and phone
number (a school without an official email address is mandated to create one as personal
or cybercafé emails are NOT allowed). The school’s online portal claim will be the first task before
the commencement of the offline/online registration. Therefore, Schools are required to input their
information correctly. After the submission of details, a default password will be sent to the school’s
official email address provided. This default password should be used to log in to the portal.
2.2 OFFLINE REGISTRATION
Schools are to uninstall the 2023 BECE application and install the 2024 BECE offline application from
NECO’s website: www.neco.gov.ng. Using the application, Schools are to make all entries of their
candidates’ bio-data. The user manual on the step-by-step registration procedure can also be
downloaded from the website. Schools should ensure that all prospective Candidates are registered
offline such that, as they pay, they could be uploaded online progressively. PLEASE NOTE THAT A
CANDIDATE IS ONLY REGISTERED IF HIS/HER OFFLINE ENTRIES ARE UPLOADED ONLINE
TO OBTAIN A REGISTRATION NUMBER. THIS ONLINE UPLOAD IS ONLY POSSIBLE UPON
PAYMENT OF REGISTRATION FEES.

2.3 VISUALLY IMPAIRED CANDIDATES

Visually impaired candidates are to be registered like everyone. However, the nature of their disability
is to be indicated correctly when making entries of their bio-data in the offline application during
registration. Visually impaired candidates are of two categories:
➢ Low Vision
➢ Complete Blindness

2.4 OFFLINE VALIDATION

After successful offline registration, schools are to do offline bio-data validation before uploading
registration data online. This validation requires that, before uploading the registration data online,
Candidates check and make all corrections regarding the following:
✓ Name
✓ Passport Photograph
✓ Date of Birth
✓ Gender
✓ Subjects
✓ State
✓ Local Government Area
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COUNCIL IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY REGISTRATION ERROR
COMMITTED BY SCHOOLS. SUCH REGISTRATION ERRORS MUST BE CORRECTED DURING
THE VALIDATION PROCESS BEFORE UPLOADING THE REGISTRATION DATA ONLINE.

2.4.1 PROCEDURE FOR OFFLINE VALIDATION

Upon completion of the offline registration, schools are to:
a. Print the offline photocards of all the candidates.
b. Issue the printed offline photocard to each candidate to confirm his/her details: Passport
Photograph, Name, State, Local Government Area, Date of Birth, Gender and Subjects. This
is to ensure that they are all correct.
c. Where errors are discovered, candidates should correct such errors on the photocards and sign in
the appropriate column. Such corrected and signed photocards are to be returned to the person
doing the registration to enter all corrections on the offline application.
d. Where there are no errors, each Candidate should just sign the appropriate column.
e. After effecting all corrections, the offline Validation List should be printed for ALL Candidates to
append their signatures against their respective names.
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 f. The signed offline Validation List is one of the documents to be returned to the NECO State Office
along with other Validation Documents.
NOTE THAT ALL CORRECTIONS MUST BE DONE OFFLINE AND DUPLICATION OF
REGISTRATION WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED.

2.5 NON-VALIDATION
Please note that any school that requests for correction of Name, Passport Photograph, Date of Birth,
Gender, Subject(s), State or Local Government Area after online upload is deemed to have indulged
in “NON-VALIDATION”. The penalty fee for non-validation is Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000.00) only
per candidate, irrespective of the nature of the non-validation. SCHOOLS SHOULD NOTE THAT:
1. Change of both Name and Passport Photograph cannot be entertained BUT ONLY ONE can
be corrected before the end of the registration period.
2. Other Non-Validation cases involving Gender, Date of Birth, Subject(s), State, Local
Government Area and correction of letter(s) in Name would be entertained before the end
of the examination.

2.6 SCHOOL ACTIVATION FOR PAYMENT

Each School must be activated by the NECO State Coordinator of each State and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) before payment and upload can be possible. Schools are to return the underlisted
Validation Documents to their respective State Coordinators who would, thereafter, activate the School
for payment:
i. Validation List duly signed by the candidates
ii. Candidates’ signed Photocards
iii. Entry Schedule duly endorsed by the State Ministry of Education as applicable
iv. Subject Analysis
Schools should note that Centre Activation commences on Monday 8th January, 2024.

2.7 PAYMENT PROCEDURE AND UPLOAD

All payments should strictly be made through the school’s online NECO portal preferably using
any of the underlisted six (6) payment options: Bank Transfer should be avoided.
✓ Card payment ✓ USSD ✓ Wallet
✓ Bank Branch ✓ Internet Banking ✓ eNaira
Upon successful payment, Registration Quota is allocated according to the amount paid into the NECO
TSA. After the Quota is allocated, schools can select the individual candidates to upload (if the payment
is not for all candidates) by either ticking the selection box against each candidate’s name OR Ticking
the “check all” box to select the entire candidates, if the payment is for all the candidates.
NOTE THAT WHEN PAYING IN INSTALLMENTS, INITIAL PAYMENT SHOULD BE MADE FOR AT
LEAST 20 CANDIDATES TO AVOID BEING SURCHARGED FOR UNVIABLE CENTRE FEE.
The Payment Receipt and the signed final Validation List that carries candidates’ registration
numbers (DOWNLOADED AND PRINTED FROM THE ONLINE PORTAL), endorsed by the School
Principal/Commandant, should be submitted to the NECO State Office.
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 The final photocards that bear the candidates’ registration numbers (downloaded and printed
from the online portal) are to be used for admission of candidates into the examination hall(s).

3.0 DETAILS OF REGISTRATION FEES AND OTHER MATERIALS

Details of the Registration fees and other materials are as follows:
a. Registration Fee for the 2024 BECE is N10,875.00 only per candidate.
b. Unviable Centre fee is N15,625.00.
c. Syllabus is N2,000.00 per copy.
d. Late Registration attracts a Penalty of additional N5,000.00 per candidate.
e. The Registration Fee for BECE Re-sit is N3,750.00 per subject per candidate.
Note: i. The Registration fees, once paid, is non-refundable.
ii. Stamp Duty, Service and Remita charges apply.

4.0 VIABILITY OF SCHOOLS

A school is deemed viable if the minimum number of candidates to be registered is Twenty (20).
Any school registering less than twenty candidates is deemed unviable and, as such, shall pay
Unviable Centre Fee of Fifteen Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty-five Naira (N15,625.00) only, if
they wish to write the examination in their school.

5.0 SYLLABUS
The syllabus for NECO BECE is available at the cost of Two Thousand Naira (N2,000.00) only per
copy. Each School is advised to have at least four (4) copies.

6.0 3RD YEAR CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT SCORES (CAS 3)

The period for CAS 3 entries by schools is 13th May to 18th June, 2024. Schools should ensure that
they use the offline application to make entries for CAS 3 and upload within the stipulated period for
timely release of result. Late CAS 3 upload would attract a penalty fee of Forty Thousand Naira
(N40,000) only. Note that penalty fee for schools with non-upload of 2023 CAS 3 would be added to
the registration fee of the current year while the upload must be done immediately.

7.0 ONLINE CENTRE DISPUTE

The Online Centre Dispute is the procedure for changing the schools’ official login details for those that
cannot access their portal on the NECO website due to one reason or another. All dispute requests
should be officially channeled through the respective NECO State Offices. This is to authenticate the
request and stop unauthorized parties from gaining access to the school’s portal. However, schools
are advised to always keep proper records of their login details.

8.0 REGISTRATION PERIOD AND CLOSING DATE

a. Registration period is between Monday 18th December, 2023 and Wednesday 1st May, 2024.
b. Late registration period is between Thursday 2nd May and Monday 6th May, 2024.
c. The website will be closed at 12:00 midnight on Monday 6th May, 2024.
d. The last date for return of printed Payment Receipt and the online endorsed final Validation List
is Friday 10th May, 2024.
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9.0 PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF BECE RESIT
The procedure for registration of BECE Resit is as follows:
➢ Login to your school profile with your center number, username and password
➢ Select Resit
➢ Select candidates
➢ Select make payment and proceed to pay using any of the six (6) payment options

10.0 PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT DATES AGAIN

i. Commencement of registration by schools is Monday 18th December, 2023.
ii. Commencement of late registration by schools is Thursday 2nd May, 2024.
iii. Last date for late registration by schools is Monday 6th May, 2024.
iv. Last date for closure of website is Monday 6th May, 2024.
v. Last date for the return of Payment Receipt and the online endorsed final Validation List is Friday
10th May, 2024.
vi. Last date for upload of CAS 3 online is Tuesday 18th June, 2024.

For further enquiries contact your State Coordinator or NECO Support Email and Helplines:
([email protected], [email protected]); 08027597699, 09032224473, 08069232760, 08189342653,
08189342754.

Thank you.

PROFESSOR DANTANI IBRAHIM WUSHISHI

Registrar/Chief Executive