total of 70,608 candidates are currently sitting for this year’s National Common Entrance Examination ((NCEE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO), to enable them to gain admission into the 115 Federal Government Colleges commonly referred to as Unity Colleges.
This year’s figure is slightly below the number of over
72,000 candidates who sat for the 2023 NCEE. This is a poor development
attributed to the hardship being witnessed in the country.
Speaking while monitoring the examination in Abuja on
Saturday, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Didi
Walson-Jack, commended NECO for the smooth examinations so far.
She said: “We’ve been monitoring the ongoing NECO
examination in FCT Abuja. We actually have 55 centers here but we’ve so far
monitored about three centers. Generally, I would say that everything is going
on smoothly.
“The candidates are sitting for the exams comfortably, there
is cooling in the room and there have been no problems so far.
“We are happy with all that NECO has put in place to ensure
a smooth and seamless exercise.”
Registrar of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi who attributed the
slight decline to the economy which has thrown millions of Nigerians into
poverty, noted that unlike examinations conducted for the higher classes
sponsored by some politicians and states, parents usually foot the bills for
registration of their children or Wards at the NCEE level.
He however noted an increase in the number of female
candidates compared to last year’s registration.
“We have 33,335 males who registered and 37,000 plus
females, we have a total of 70,608 that are so far registered which is below
last year.
“Last year it was about 72,000 plus. So you find that
generally for the male and female, last year’s registration was higher than
this year’s registration.
“This could be attributed to so many factors, economic
factors are the most prevalent factor that may hinder large registration.
“We all know what is happening in the economy and it is
affecting everybody. The bulk of the population is in the rural areas and in
some states, they don’t sponsor candidates at this level. It’s the parents who
sponsor the candidate.
“Sometimes politicians, sometimes traditional rulers so and
you can see why economic factor is the most prevailing factor hindering this
registration.”
The Registrar further noted that candidates who were unable
to register for the examination before 6 am Saturday, were unable to sit for
the examination.
“By six this morning, we had cases where even candidates
came ready to register by payment of physical cash and transfer. We say we
don’t do that. We have a process, and that process should be followed and that
is why we’re encouraging parents to make sure that at least they are abreast
with announcements and procedures for registering for these examinations.
“This is a national examination where every child of primary school age is expected to write this examination so that the candidates will fill the state’s quota in these 115 Unity colleges.”