The National Examinations Council (NECO) has lamented that states are indebted to the council for Senior Schools Certificate Examination (SSCE) to the sum of N3 billion at the end of 2022, and has asked the affected states to pay up the debt to enhance effective operations.
Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, Registrar of the Council disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Jos on Friday shortly after carrying out inspection of the ongoing NECO examination in Jos, Plateau State.
Wushishi noted that the council would soon come out with a detailed debt profile at the end of the ongoing exercise when the deadline for payment expires.
He said, “It’s true some states are indebted to NECO, but to be fair to some of these states, they are responding positively. It is at the end of this exercise, when they have chosen to pay, that we will be able to assert the level of indebtedness.
“But as far as last year is concerned, we had close to N3 billion in debt. But in some states, as they are registering students, they are still remitting their previous debts,” he said.
The Registrar, adjudged the ongoing examination to be one of the best in recent times, stressing that since the examination started, the council hasn’t recorded a major hitch.
“In the course of this supervision, we have so far covered seven states, including Plateau State, where we met with various stakeholders, including traditional rulers, among others.
“From all indications, the examination is going on as planned. There is no major issue as far as the conduct of the examination is concerned,” Wushishi said.
According to him, they had good and fair assessments from the stakeholders and at their end, the delivery of materials has been fantastic, saying this year’s examination has been very successful.
“We didn’t have problems conducting examinations where there were security challenges, even in Zamfara and other troubled states, our examination went on without any hitch, and where there was a threat, we transferred students to safe areas.”
“Despite sitting at home in the Southeast by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), we conducted examinations there without any hitch,” he said.
He further disclosed that there was a slight drop in the enrolment of students for the examination this year compared to 2022, adding that this was due to some reasons, including the economic reality in the country.
“A lot of factors could be responsible for the drop, one of which is that states have their own way of recruiting those they want to sponsor based on the considerations of each state. I also think that the economic situation in the country could be a factor.
“This year, we are very strict in maintaining our date of closure for registration. Those schools that forwarded their candidates after the closure were not entertained, so this as well could have been responsible for the drop in registration,” Wushishi added.
- FG moves to secure natural resources, as presidential committee meets service chiefs - January 25, 2024
- Kogi govt pays JAMB registration fees for 15,033 public school students - January 24, 2024
- Edo Guber: APC debunks aspirants screening disqualification rumours - January 24, 2024
