Follow Us on Google
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO), Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, has disclosed that states are indebted to the council to the tune of N3 billion.
He also noted that the body registered fewer candidates in this year’s examination than last year.
The registrar said while the examination body registered 1, 205, 888 candidates this year, last year it was 1, 209, 000. Of this number, the registrar disclosed that 661, 074 were males and 584, 814 were females.
Wushishi who spoke while monitoring this year’s NECO examination in some centres in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on Friday, said that a lot of factors were responsible for the shortfall. He said that since the registration comes from states, they could chose the number they could register due to their personal reasons and circumstances.
He also cited economic situation in the country as reason for the decision by some parents and schools not to register candidates for the examination.
“Again, we are very, very strict in maintaining the closing date for registration. Though we extended the date for registration, there were states that came thereafter to register their candidates. Some came with about 140 and some came with less. We told them we had extended the date and there is no more extension. These could have contributed to the drop in registration of candidates,” he said.
The registrar said that the tour, which started on July 24, had taken his team to Northwestern states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Plateau states, adding that the same exercise was done in South West last year with the intention of going to the South South and Southeast by next year.
