The National Open University of Nigeria will begin using the National Examinations Council's electronic verification platform from the 2026 admission cycle, following discussions between the leadership of both institutions in Abuja on Tuesday.

Professor Uduma Oji Uduma, Vice Chancellor of NOUN, welcomed the proposed collaboration during a courtesy visit by NECO's Registrar, Professor Dantani Wushishi, assuring the examination body that the university was ready to integrate the eVerify system into its admission processes.

Uduma stressed that result verification remains critical to maintaining academic integrity, stating that any certificate lacking proper verification cannot claim credibility. "Any certificate that is not verified has no integrity. We must verify every certificate, and we will collaborate with you on results verification," Uduma noted.

He disclosed that NOUN admits approximately 40,000 students annually, making robust verification systems essential to ensuring all admitted candidates present authentic credentials. The Vice Chancellor confirmed that the university would begin integrating NECO's eVerify platform starting from its first batch of 2026 admissions.

The NOUN Vice Chancellor highlighted the university's nationwide spread and CBT capacity, explaining that NOUN operates approximately 128 study centres across Nigeria, positioning it to support NECO's examination objectives.

"Most importantly, there is no other university that has our spread. We have approximately 128 study centres across the nation. That means, with our CBT and ICT capacity, you can be sure that we will help to give integrity and respite to what you are doing," Uduma declared.

Professor Wushishi, who congratulated Uduma on his appointment and described him as "a seasoned administrator with proven academic integrity", explained that the visit pursued three objectives, including formally felicitating with the vice chancellor and exploring collaboration on result authentication through NECO's eVerify platform.

He recalled that NECO previously handled verification manually, a process that often took months to process requests from institutions in over 50 countries, but disclosed that nearly five million results had been verified electronically since launching the eVerify system two years ago.

"With the API integration, institutions can seamlessly confirm the authenticity of candidates' NECO results without delay," Wushishi stated, urging NOUN to integrate the platform to strengthen its admission screening process.

Wushishi also highlighted NOUN's extensive CBT infrastructure nationwide, noting that NECO was aligning with the Federal Ministry of Education's policy to migrate fully from paper based to computer based examinations.

Uduma announced plans to immediately set up a committee to work with NECO on the identified areas of collaboration.