By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Over 70,000 candidates across Nigeria sat for the 2024/2025 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) for admission into the 115 Federal Government Colleges, also known as Unity Colleges.
The examination, held for Basic 5 and 6 pupils, witnessed a smooth and successful execution, as noted by officials during monitoring activities.
Speaking on Saturday in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack OON mni lauded the efforts of NECO in ensuring a well conducted examination process.
“We have been monitoring the ongoing National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) in the FCT. We have 55 centres here. But we have so far monitored three centres. And generally, I would say that everything is going on smoothly. The students are doing the exam comfortably. And there’s been no problem so far. We are happy with all that NECO has put in place to ensure a smooth and seamless exercise,” she said.
The examination was conducted in 599 centres nationwide, with a total of 70,608 candidates registered, comprising 33,335 males and 37,268 females. Despite a slight decline in overall registration compared to the previous years howey there is an increase in the number of female candidates.
The Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, attributed the decline in registration numbers primarily to economic challenges.
“So far, for this year’s National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE), we’ve 33,335 registered males and over 37,000 females. We have a total of 70,608 registered, which is below last year. Last year’s registration was about 72,000. This could be attributed to so many factors; economic is the most prevalent factor that could hinder this large registration,” Prof. Wushishi explained.
The Registrar also emphasized the measures taken to ensure no underage candidates participated in the examination, adhering to the promise made by the immediate past Permanent Secretary Education, David Adejo, in 2023.
“We have addressed the situation of underage children writing the exams. Most of the candidates you see here that look underage are not, because some of them have just one month to be 10 years. So, in such cases, we excuse them to write. We don’t have any issue that has to do with any underage sitting this exam,” he added.
In a statement by the Director of Press & Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo, the Permanent Secretary was accompanied on the monitoring exercise by the Directors and top management Saff from the Ministry’ and NECO.
The team visited Schools, including Model Secondary School, Maitama; Government Secondary School, Wuse II; and Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3, among others. READ ALSO:
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The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Sen. Lawal Usman, also praised NECO for the successful conduct of the exams and urged the council to consider transitioning to an ICT platform similar to the one used by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
“We roll out some NECO and JAMB sponsorship throughout my State. We contributed over 200 million to Parents to be able to pay for their Children’s NECO and JAMB. I am calling on other Senators and house members to key into this because this is the foundation for every child,” Sen. Usman stated.
