Tag: NECO

The Registrar and Chief Executive of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Prof. Dantani Wushishi, has been elected into the Executive Council of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA).

Wushishi was elected as West Africa’s Representative during the AEAA’s 40th annual conference at the Century City Conference Centre and Hotels in Cape Town, South Africa.

The just-concluded event brought together educational assessment experts from across the continent.

A statement yesterday by NECO’s Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, Azeez Sani, said Wushishi would join a select group of eight members on the Executive Council.

“These members represent various examination bodies from across Africa, reflecting the association’s commitment to regional representation and collaboration.

Read Also: NECO registrar elected as West African representative of AEAA

“The Association for Educational Assessment in Africa, established in 1982, aims to foster cooperation among examining and assessment bodies across the continent.

“It plays a critical role in harmonising educational assessments, ensuring that standards are maintained and improved across Africa,” the statement said.

This year’s conference, held from August 19 to 23, had the theme: Reimagining Educational Assessment in the Age of Multiple Dimensions of Learning in a Global Society.

The event drew participants from over 21 active primary members, along with various public and private institutions and organisations from around the world.”

The Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, has been elected into the Executive Council of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) as the West Africa Representative.

He was elected at the just concluded 40th Conference of the Association held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wushishi will serve in the eight-member Executive Council with members drawn from other Examination bodies across Africa.

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The Association of Educational Assessment in Africa was established in 1982 to promote cooperation amongst examining and assessment bodies in Africa.

The Association is saddled with the harmonization of Educational Assessment in the African Continent.

The AEAA conference with the theme, “Reimaging Education Assessment in the Age of Multiple Dimensions of Learning in a Global Society” started on the 19th of August and concluded on the 23rd of August. The conference had 21 active primary members as well as other public and private institutions and organizations from across the world in attendance.

The Jigawa Government has approved N888million for the National Examinations Registration charges (NECO), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) and National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) for Jigawa s candidates for the 2024 academic year.

The payment covers the payment for 39,709 candidates.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Sagir Musa, the Commissioner for Information, Youths, Sport and Culture in Dutse.

Musa said that the money was approved by the State Executive Council after a meeting on Thursday.

Read Also: ‘1.3m candidates writing 2024 NECO’s SSCE’

Council, the commissioner said, also approved N921.9 million for additional works on the ongoing contract for the maintenance/rehabilitation of Auyo -Kafin Hausa road to Messrs. ALREN Construction Company Ltd. and N16.1m as additional award of Consultancy Services to Messrs Innovative Engineering Consultant.

He explained that the council also approved N400 million as support for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) in the state.

“The approval is the last tranche of the  N1 billion earlier approved by the council to the project account,” he said.

The commissioner added that the council also approved the establishment of a 10-member committee for the implementation of new minimum wage in the state.

He said that the Jigawa Head of Service as Chairman and Commissioners of Justice, Finance, Budget, Local Government, Basic Education, Health, Information, Special Adviser Salary and Pension, will serve as members and Personal Personal Secretary to Gov. Umar Namadi, will serve as Secretary.

(NAN)

Over 1.3 million candidates registered for the ongoing 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO).

Registrar of NECO, Prof. Dantani Wushishi, said yesterday.

He spoke after monitoring the examination at some centres in Enugu, Enugu State.

The candidates are writing in 76 subjects.

Prof. Wushishi, who expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination in the centre, said reports received from across the country indicated that the examination was going on smoothly.

In a statement by the Acting Director of Information and Digital Communication, Azeez Sani, the Registrar attributed the success to the various measures put in place to ensure a seamless exercise.

Read Also: NECO hails conduct of SSCE exams in southeast, south-south

According to him, due to some innovations put in place, the menace of examination malpractice was on the decline.

He admonished candidates to work hard to have good grades, stressing that ‘there is no shortcut to success’.

The Registrar also said since the start of the examination, he had monitored the exercise in Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, Imo and Anambra states to have first-hand information on the conduct of the examination.

The National Examination Council (NECO) has commended the conduct of its Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in the southeast and south-south geopolitical zones of the country, saying nothing fundamentally negative had been found in the processes of the exam.

This is just as the council has disclosed that no fewer than 1,376,391 Nigerian students and 2000 foreign candidates are sitting in its current 2024 examinations.

The registrar and chief executive of the NECO, Prof Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this while fielding questions from reporters after monitoring ongoing SSCE in Enugu State, on Wednesday.

The NECO registrar and his team visited the College of Immaculate Conception (CIC) Enugu and Federal Government College Enugu, among others.

Prof. Wushishi said he decided to embark on the monitoring exercise to avail himself of first-hand information on the progress, processes and challenges regarding the examination.

He said: “We have to monitor what is happening in the field and that is why we decided to monitor geopolitical zones; the Southeast and south-south. In the south-south, we monitored Edo, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states. In the Southeast, we monitored Abia, Imo, Anambra and Enugu states. We had to do that by road so that in the process when we see any school we go there by surprise to monitor what is going on as far as exams in concerned.

“This has availed us a lot number of opportunities to see what is going on in the field. So far south-south and southeast were visited. We have not found any fundamental thing that is negative in the processes of the exam. Everything is going fine; delivery of sensitive and non-sensitive materials was done on time and all the exams and reports and interactions from principals and major stakeholders, commissioners and directors in the ministries of education and schools we went to, attest to the fact that all the materials were delivered on time.

“I’m impressed with what I have seen so far, even the sitting arrangement was perfect.”

Giving a breakdown of the enrollment, the registrar said, “This year we have recorded 1,376,391 candidates overall; 706, 490 male, 669,000 plus female candidates. The number this year exceeded what we had recorded last year. Last year we recorded 1, 205, 888 candidates. For this year we are having 1.3 million so it’s an appreciation of enrollment rate as far as SSCE is concerned.

“On the number of foreign candidates that are sitting, they are very much because there are more than 2000 that are sitting for this examination. They are Nigerian citizens and other foreign nationals who are impressed with the curriculum of the school there, they write the same examination, so they are Nigerians and citizens of other countries.

The NECO Registrar stated that the exam body has zero tolerance for examination malpractices, hence they took measures to make sure that first and foremost stakeholders are sensitized both parents and students and policymakers.

Read Also: 1.3m candidates registered for 2024 NECO’s SSCE – Registrar

“We used to hold workshops and we also introduced measures to curb exam malpractice. We have introduced biometric machines to cub impersonation and apart from that our photo album if you look at it very carefully has a barcode. If you use your Android phone to scan the barcode you will see the details of the candidate appearing, which is also to curb malpractice.

“So we have put a lot of measures, scan measures, security measures, employing undercover security operators so that they will not know that they are security men and women.

“And even this fishing site, we have employed an intelligent section of the NECO so we are working assiduously with DSS to uncover these people that engage on this so that we guard against the leakage of examination questions,” he said.

The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Tanko Sununu, has launched the construction of seven new state offices for the National Examinations Council (NECO) to enhance its operational activities.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the permanent NECO state office in Lafia, Nasarawa state, along with the symbolic inauguration of offices in other states, took place on Friday, July 5, in Lafia, Nasarawa State.

A statement by the acting director of NECO’s directorate of information and digital communication, Azeez Sani noted that the new offices will be established in Nasarawa, Abia, Jigawa, Lagos, Rivers, Sokoto, and Taraba states.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Sununu said that these projects will secure a brighter future for Nigerian children.

He praised NECO’s registrar, Prof Dantani Wushishi for ensuring equitable distribution of the offices across the six geopolitical zones, adhering to the principle of federal character.

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Dr. Sununu highlighted NECO’s readiness to incorporate all components of the country as an indigenous examination body.

He described education as the cornerstone of development and poverty eradication and assured that the seven state offices would be completed promptly to provide a conducive working environment for NECO staff.

He stated: “A conducive working environment is essential for nurturing ideas and enhancing job efficiency.”

The Minister, who commended Prof Wushishi for initiating various reforms which have placed NECO on the global map, stated that the Council is a credible examination body that is comparable to any other in the world.

Prof. Wushishi explained that the new offices will serve as a beacon of excellence in the administration of examinations in Nigeria.

He said: “This project is a direct outcome of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructural development within the educational sector and is, therefore, part of the seven capital projects captured for NECO in this year’s budget, underscoring the government’s dedication to providing institutions like NECO with necessary resources to fulfil their mandate effectively.”

The Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO) Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, on Thursday, May 16, said the complexity of its examination may not allow for immediate migration from paper to Computer Based Test.

Wushishi was speaking during an interactive session with education correspondents on key milestones achieved by the council in Abuja.

The NECO boss said that by being the body conducting the largest number of examinations, migrating to CBT would take a gradual step.

Prof Wushishi said: “For the fact that NECO is the largest examination body by the number of examinations we conduct, migrating to CBT is a critical issue.

“For JAMB, they are not examining candidates in so many subject areas so they find it very easy to embrace CBT in their examinations and do multiple choice in their exams.

“As far as NECO is concerned, if you look at the nature of our exams particularly in SSCE internal-for admissions into tertiary institutions, every year we examine students close to 1.5 million which is a large number.

Read Also: NECO denies extending closing date for SSCE internal registration

“For this 1.5 million candidates, we examine these candidates in 76 different subjects and more than 150 different papers.

“So if we look at the complexity of these exams, particularly the essays where we have different papers, going CBT is something that experts need to sit and look at the nitty gritty of the exams.”

Wushishi said that this was to ensure that standards of its exams in the areas of acceptability, reliability, and credibility are maintained.

He added that international universities such as Lead University, and Birmingham City University in the UK wrote the council to use its results to apply for those institutions.

The NECO registrar added: “We have to do that gradually and there are some areas in our exams we could start with like the common entrance examination which is multiple choice based but then we must look at the nitty-gritty of doing that.”

Speaking on stemming examination malpractices in its upcoming SSCE internal examinations, Wushishi said there was no fear of exam leakages as it had put in place sophisticated mechanisms to check malpractices.

He said: “We are putting in place programs for continuous sensitisation awareness. We are going to improve in the area of data protection to protect our candidate’s information.

“We are getting sophisticated identity to check malpractices as well as identify fishing sites to know if our papers leaked.

“We have no fears of any malpractices in the conduct of our exams coming up in June.”

Prof Wushishi, while reeling out the milestones of the council, said that in its 25 years of existence, the council had discharged its responsibilities in line with the mandate of the organisation.

He also noted that so far the council had examined 34 million Nigerian youths as well as conducted trial testing exams for selection of the best items in its examination.

The registrar added that on assumption of office in 2021, the council embarked on a nationwide tour of its offices, noting that this resulted in policy leading to the turnaround of its activities.

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has denied extending the closing date for the 2024 Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Internal registration.

According to the examinations body, the registration which started on Monday 18th December, 2023 will close on Monday 3rd June, 2024.

NECO stated that the closing date has not changed adding that late registration which attracts the late registration fee is between Tuesday 4th June, 2024 to Monday 10th June, 2024. 

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“The Council enjoin candidates, school Principals, Commandants, State Ministries of Education and other Stakeholders to disregard Social Media posts purporting that the registration period has been extended to Monday 20th June, 2024,” NECO stated in a statement by the acting Director, Directorate of Information Honorable Digital Communication, Azeez Sani.

It further stated the 2024 SSCE Internal will commence on 19th June, 2024 and end on 26th July 2024 where the candidates will be assessed in 76 subjects.