By Mary Iloh
A total of 70,603 candidates, on Saturday, sat for the 2024 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) into the unity colleges nationwide.
Registrar of NECO, Prof Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this while monitoring the exercise on Saturday at Model Secondary School, Maitama and Government Day Secondary School, Wuse 2 Abuja.
He stated that the examination was conducted in 599 centres across the country.
Wushishi said 33,335 males registered for the 2024 NCEE, while 37,268 females registered for the exercise totalling 70,603.
He lamented that the 2024 registration was lower than that of 2023 which had 34,064 males and 38,801 females, totalling 72,865.
Lagos State had the highest number of applicants with 17,751, while Federal Capital Territory (FCT) came second with 10,209 applicants and Anambra came third place with 4,972 applicants
Bayelsa, Borno and Gombe had the least number of candidates participating in the exercise, after registering only 133, 138 and 174 candidates respectively.
The NECO boss attributed the low registration in 2024 to economic factors as the exam body had slightly raised the registration fee and parents, who are grappling with the effect of the economy, were responsible for sponsoring candidates at this level.
Wushishi said: “For the males and females, last year’s registration was higher than this year’s registration. This could be attributed to so many factors; economic factor is the most prevalent factor that could hinder this large registration.”
He refuted claims of NECO registering underage children for the National Common Entrance Examination, clarifying that students participating in the examination were either 10 years old or left with a month or two to be 10.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, expressed satisfaction with what NECO has put in place to ensure a smooth and seamless exercise.
Walson-Jack disclosed that there were 55 centres writing the NCE in the FCT, stating that everything went on smoothly and students were placed in conducive examination halls to sit for the exercise.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Basic and Secondary, Sen. Lawal Adamu called on National Assembly members to provide an educational foundation for every child in their constituencies.