The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Examination Council (NECO)

  • Why there is drop in 2019 Common entrance examination, by NECO Registrar

    The Acting Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Mr. Abubakar Gana has attibuted the drop in the number of candidates in the 2019 Common Entrance Examination into Federal Government schools to lack of sponsorship by some politicians.

    Gana made the assertion on Saturday in Abuja during the monitoring of the examination in some of the centres.

    According to him, politicians who traditionally sponsor candidates for the examination were unable to do so because of their commitments in the just concluded general elections.

    Mr. Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education monitoring the conduct of 2019 National Common Entrance Examination at the Model Primary school, Maitama

    He said that over 80,000 candidates registered for the examination in 2018 while 75, 635 registered for the 2019 National Common Entrance Examination.

    “We registered 75, 635 as at yesterday, which is a drop in number in 2018.

    “The number dropped because of the politics in the country. The politicians that are used to bankrolling candidates for this exam were busy in the field so it affected the number.

    ” Most of these candidates in the Northern states are assisted by politicians,” he said.

    Gana added that the low registration had also prompted the earlier shift in the examination date from April 13 to April 27 to give opportunity for more people to register.

    The acting NECO Registrar said the state with the least number of registered candidates was Zamfara with 59 while other Northern states with low registration figures had before the examination date increased by 100 per cent compared to 2018.

    He said that Lagos state had the highest number with over 23, 000 candidates.

    “Apart from Zamfara state, all the states of the federation recorded significant number of registered candidates.

    ” The seven states that had very low registration figures leading to the earlier postponement of the examination all recorded significant increase in the number of registered candidates between the earlier date and today.

    He explained that the number of candidates to be admitted would be based on the carrying capacity which would be handled by the ministry of education.

    Gana said that the result of the examination would be out on May 1, and admission would be based on 60 per cent for merit and 40 per cent for quota and others.

    Commenting on security arrangements for the examination, the NECO acting Registrar said that the exercise was conducted with heavy presence of police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel at each of the centres, particularly in the volatile areas.

    Read Also: NECO reschedules entrance exam into unity schools

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said the ministry was ready to increase the carrying capacity of admission into unity school to 25,000.

    Adamu, who was represented by Mr Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said  government had taken steps to ensure that adequate infrastructure were put in place to enhance effective learning in the schools.

    He added that the government had increased the number of spaces to admit more students in the 2019 academic session.

    ” We have a problem of access to education in this country, so as part of our interventions to ensure we bring more children into the Schools thereby reduce the number of kids who are out of school, we are having so many programmes.

    ” One of this is to increase the spaces available in our unity colleges and each time we do this there are other consequential interventions that are needed.

    “You need to have additional classrooms and additional teachers for this purpose,” the Minister said.

    He commended the president for graciously approving the rehabilitation of many of the colleges.

    Adamu said that government had provided new classrooms, libraries as well as rehabilitated the dilapidated ones and had embarked on recruitment of additional teachers for the schools.

    According to him, the regularisation of PTA teachers and new recruitment of teachers into the unity Schools was ongoing at the Federal Civil Service Commission.

    He advised parents of candidates who took the examination to begin to check the status of their admission online at www.neco.gov.ng as soon as the results are released on May 1.

    Also, the Chairman of the NECO Governing Board, Dr Abubakar Saddiq, said the Federal Government was serious about developing schools and ensure that they have good teachers; laboratories and that teachers are properly catered for in the Unity Schools.

    Saddiq urged the education minister to address the challenges in unity schools and strengthen it to foster national integration.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that pupils were seen conducting themselves appropriately at the Government Secondary School, Wuse II and Model Secondary School, Maitama during the monitoring.

    Mathematics, Basic science, English language, social studies, verbal reasoning and aptitude test were the subjects taken by the candidates.

  • ‘NECO scandal a desperate attempt to mess up Buhari’s administration’

    Anti-Corruption Crusaders of Nigeria  (ACCN ), an NGO, has described the recent corruption scandal rocking the National Examination Council ( NECO ) as a desperate attempt by disgruntled elements to mess up the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its anti-corruption posture.

    It will be recalled that the Registrar of NECO, Prof. Charles Uwakwe and two other principal officers of the organisation were suspended and an investigative panel set up following allegations of corruption in the award of a N25 billion contract.

    Addressing a world press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, spokesperson of the Group, Comrade Christian Omale, urged the investigative panel to be very thorough, objective and fair in the discharge of its mandate.

    Omale said that although the Group was in support of the investigation, the panel should be impartial in the discharge of its mandate in view of the huge amount involved.

    He added that corruption should not be condoned especially in the face of the dwindling fortunes of the education sector in the country.

    He told journalists that it was strange that a Council under the supervision and watchful eyes of the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Assembly in terms of budgeting would mismanage such huge amount of money through contract awards.

    He assured that the Group would follow the case closely with a view to bringing justice to all parties involved, stressing that the era of frivolous allegations were over.

    “As our name implies, we are in support of the anti-corruption fight of the present administration and the setting up of the investigative panel to probe the alleged N25 billion contract award by some principal officers of NECO led by Prof. Charles Uwakwe.

    “We took it up as soon as the news of the suspension of these principal officers was announced and the huge sum of money involved considering the dwindling resources in the education sector.

    Read Also: Amaechi urges Nigerians to commend Buhari’s economic agenda

    “We know that N25 billion can go a long way towards resuscitating the ailing education sector.

    “However, we are still in doubt as to how such huge sum of money can vanish from the Council under the watchful eyes of the Federal Ministry of Education and National Assembly.

    “We all know the approval limit of serving ministers and chief executive officers of agencies and parastatals in the country.

    “We know that the number of candidates, who sat for the National Examination Council and how much the Council makes is in the public domain.

    “How then can a Council such as NECO award N25 billion contracts without approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC)?

    “How much is the budget of the Council as approved by the National Assembly?” Omale queried.

    He, therefore, called on the relevant agencies and other anti-corruption organisations to join hands in ensuring that justice prevailed in the matter.

    He urged the Federal Government and the panel not to hesitate to punish anyone found culpable in any campaign of calumny against the government.

    “The government should ensure that any officer found to be innocent at the end of this exercise is reinstated.

    “Doing so will be clear statement that this government actually put in place competent people to steer the affairs of the Council right from the beginning.

    “We are watching, as the case of the National Health Insurance Scheme is still fresh in the memories of a lot of Nigerians,’’ Omale stated.

    NAN

  • NECO Registrar, two Deputy Directors sacked

    The Registrar of the National Examinations Council(NECO), Professor Charles Uwakwe has been sacked.

    Along with the Registrar, two Deputy Directors were also disengaged for reasons connected to corruption.

    No official reason have been given for the disengagement of the Register and The Nation gathered that the disengagement have not been made known to most of the staff of the Council.

    Sources in the Council said that the sack may have come about because of the award of a N25 billion contract which was without the knowledge of either the Federal ministry of education or the governing board of the council.

    While another source disclosed that the Registrar had recruited some staff without the knowledge of the appropriate authorities.

    Other sources argued that the Registrar was only given indefinite suspension on reasons which would soon be resolved.

    The Nation however gathered that the most Senior Director, Alhaji Abubakar Gana has been directed to take over as Registrar in acting capacity.

    Efforts to speak to the Head of Information of the Council proved abortive as all calls and text messages went unanswered as at the time of filing this report.

  • NECO to remit N1.2bn to federation account – Registrar

    NECO to remit N1.2bn to federation account – Registrar

    The Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Prof. Charles Uwakwe, Thursday said the agency would remit N1.2 into the federation account this year.

    Prof. Uwakwe stated this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

    He said the agency remitted N820 in two years to the federal government.

    According to him, N500 million and N320 was remitted to the government in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

    Prof. Uwakwe also disclosed that the National Assembly has urged the agency to improve on its remittance to the federal government.

    To achieve this, he said, the agency has started making efforts to improve on the management of its resources.

    Prof. Uwakwe said: “We have a mandate to do this therefore, we should be managing the resources that we have very prudently and there is also a bit of pressure on us to be remitting to federation account which we are very cognizant of.

    “We are making efforts to ensure that we continue to improve in that respect and therefore prudent management of resources that we have must be our guiding principle.

    “We just returned from the defense of our budget in the National Assembly and they have said there is need for us to increase our remittance to the federation account which we have been working on.

    “We have improved from N320 million to more than N500 million. We estimate that by next exam we should be able to remit to the federation account about N1.2 billion. And it’s appropriate for us to do that.

    “People should come to the council for clarification when they have doubts. It is unacceptable because they peddle rumors to the detriment of the council.” 

    He described the alleged embezzlement of N15 billion belonging to the agency as “mere rumour.”

    According to him, the budget of the agency is under close scrutiny of the federal ministry of education and national assembly.

    “To set the record straight we are not running independently in terms of our budgeting. We are under strict guidance by the ministry and national Assembly. Every year we provide information as to what we generate and what our expenditure is.

    “We go to defend all those and therefore if somebody says fifty naira is missing as a chief executive laying emphasis on prudent management and zero tolerance for impunity, there is no way that anybody can associate me with such frivolous expenditure. It’s practically impossible and totally fallacious,” he said.

    Prof. Uwakwe also denied knowledge of any illegal recruitment under his watch.

    “There have never been illegal recruitment by the council. All that we have done by way of replacement we have followed due process with clearance from both the Ministry of Education, Federal Character Commission and Head of Service. We have documented evidence of weavers and approval,” he added.

    Read Also: NECO releases 2017 Nov/Dec SSCE results

  • FG releases results of unity schools

    FG releases results of unity schools

    The Federal Government Thursday said it has released the result of this year’s National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) into Federal Unity schools.

    Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Husseini Adamu said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    He said Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu gave the approval to National Examination Council (NECO) to release the results to the public for access in all the State Ministries of Education nationwide as well as NECO zonal offices.

    According to the statement, 80,421 candidates registered for the examination but only 77, 512 candidates actually sat for the examination.

    “The general analysis of the result shows that the highest score was 189 out of 200 scored by two candidates; Emeka-Egbuna Chinecherem C. and Onubogu Chinazom Joyce both from Anambra State, while the least score was 4 scored by 8 candidates.

    “Queens College, Yaba Lagos was one of the colleges with highest subscription of 5524, while the least subscribed college was FGGC, Monguno Borno State with only 21 candidates.

    “The result can be accessed on-line http://www.fmeinterview.com or through NECO zonal offices nationwide, to know whether a candidate is shortlisted for placement or not,” the statement said.

    The statement added that the placement exercise is scheduled to take place in July, 2017.

     

  • Don decries inadequate facilities, lecturers in higher institutions

    A don, Dr Awotein George, has decried the inadequate learning and teaching facilities in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

    George told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Friday that the student’s population and available learning facilities were far apart.

    George, Head of Department (HOD), Fisheries and Aquatic Environment, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, said students population out weighted available learning facilities.

    “Universities (students) are increasing year after year, while the learning facilities/lecturers are not increasing,” he said.

    He said the situation had made effective assessment of students difficult.

    The don said Joint Matriculation Admission Board (JAMB) might have banned candidates on awaiting West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) results from registering for JAMB.

    The HOD noted that JAMB’s decision could have come on the heels of the computer based examination.

    He said the available computers might not go round the candidates if not the policy.

    “The JAMB examination is computer-based; where are the computer facilities, and electricity supply, especially in the rural areas,” he said.

    George advised those affected by the ban to use the one year period to acquire relevant skills.

     

  • Kano approves N399m for payment of WASCE, NECO fees‎

     The Kano State Government has approved  N398.9 million for payment of West African Secondary Certificate Examination (WASCE) and the National Examination Council (NECO) fees for 27,268 candidates that passed the minimum requirements of the state qualifying examination.

    Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba disclosed this in Kano on Monday while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the State’s Executive Council Meeting.

    Garba added that only students with five credits, including English and Mathematics would benefit from the gesture.‎

    He said that the state’s 44 local government councils were directed to shoulder the responsibility of such qualified candidates in their domains. The commissioner said the decision was taken based on three options presented to the council by the Ministry of Education.‎

    He also said that N774.5 million was approved for the drilling of 789 hand pump boreholes and rehabilitation of 163 across the state.‎ The commissioner pointed out that the government decided to drill the boreholes in order to address the problem of water scarcity facing some communities in the state.

  • NECO/WAEC withholds Niger state results

    NECO/WAEC withholds Niger state results

    The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) have refused to release the 2016 SSCE results of candidates in public secondary schools in Niger state due to the non-payment of examination fees by the state government.

    The Nation gathered that the Niger state government is owing both examination bodies to the tune of N700 million.

    Investigation shows that WAEC is being owned over N400 million while NECO is being owned over N200 million.

    WAEC released its results for the May/June Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) a month ago while NECO released its June/July SSCE results last week.

    The agony of the students is that they have up till 12 noon on Friday to uphold their results for admission into various tertiary institutions in the country.

    The students who were seen in most cyber cafes in the state have been complaining bitterly on their inability to access their results which may lead to denial of admission this year.

    The examination bodies have insisted that they will not release the results until payment is made by the state government.

    However, a Source close to the state government disclosed that the Acting Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Ketso have directed that part of the debts be settled before 12 noon Wednesday to enable the results to be released.

    Ketso was said to have directed that N200 million be paid to WAEC while N100 million should be paid to NECO as the examination bodies are being assured of the payment soonest.

    The Source further disclosed that the default in payment on the part of the government was due to financial constraint especially as the state government had promised to pay the examination fees of the students.

    Confirming this in a telephone chat with our Correspondent, the state Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Fatima Magudu said that the students will start accessing their results very soon.

    She said that the issue about the payment is being resolved as government is putting in its best to address the situation.

    “The students will start accessing their results very soon, before friday. The issue about the payment is being resolved.”