The Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano has been lauded for the sparkling performance of Anambra children in National Examination Council (NECO) exams.
Speaking during a courtesy visit on Governor Obiano at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, the Registrar/Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Abdulrashid Garba applauded the State for recording almost 80% in 5 Credits including English Language and Mathematics in year 2015.
“This is commendable sir, and that is the reason why I choose Anambra as my first port of call in my tour of states of the federation,” Prof. Garba revealed, further attributing the impressive performance of the state to the heavy investments that the state government makes in education.
“I also want to appreciate you for the good relationship that your office has with NECO and to commend you for the great performance of Anambra State in NECO examinations which is largely because of the investment your government has been making in education,” the NECO Registrar observed and further revealed that since taking over the mantle of leadership of the examination body five months ago, his mission has been to guarantee credible examinations that can be accepted worldwide and to cement the relationship between NECO and various state governments in order to build confidence and cater for the Nigerian child.
He also praised the governor for giving NECO a free plot of land to build its office in the state and commended Anambra for showing such a keen interest in NECO examinations.
Recalling that the examinations body came into existence 16 years ago to help restore integrity to the nation’s examinations, Prof. Garba revealed that NECO has a slogan which emphasizes the importance of “doing the right thing for NECO’s integrity and doing the right thing for credible examinations.”
In his response, Governor Obiano expressed happiness that Anambra has been consistent in churning out impressive results in national examinations in the past three years.
According to him, “my administration has done quite a number of things in the past 18 months to ensure that Anambra continues to do well in all external examinations. First is the initiative to give teachers in the remote areas of the state a quarter of their salaries in addition to their basic salaries.
This has stimulated a clamour among teachers to be posted to rural areas. In addition, if a teacher teaches sciences or Igbo, she gets a quarter more to encourage her,” Governor Obiano explained. He assured NECO of the support of his administration at all times.
The highlight of the visit was the presentation of a commemorative plaque to the governor to underscore NECO’s acknowledgement of Anambra’s excellent performances and the governor’s robust investment in education.
