Unity Schools record 90,786 common entrance enrolment

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, has said 90,786 candidates registered for this year’s National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) into the 104 unity colleges across the nation.

The Minister disclosed that Lagos State topped the list with 25,963 candidates, while Zamfara State had the least with 103 candidates, adding that the number of candidates from the IDPs was impressive due to effective war against insurgency.

He said, “Adamawa has a total of 347 candidates, 313 regular pupils and 34 from the IDPs; Borno has 307, regular pupils 187, while pupils from the IDPs are 120; Yobe has a total of 402 candidates, regular 387, while the IDPs are 15.”

He noted that the examination took place in 500 examination centres; 499 in Nigeria and one centre in Porto Novo, Benin Republic.

Anwukah disclosed that all the primary six pupils in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) camps in the three North Eastern States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe wrote the examination.

He revealed that Federal Ministry of Education would receive the results of the examination on Wednesday, April 20, after which it would direct NECO to release it to the public.

He called on candidates to check if they are qualified for interview test both at the various Federal Unity Collages and online via NECO website www.mynecoexams.com as soon as the results are released.

Speaking on the examination, NECO Registrar, Professor Abdulrashid Garba, said the examination body would soon adopt the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode of examination.

“We are really considering CBT for our SSCE, but when the time comes, we shall talk about. We are encouraging government to make computers available for these schools before we can embrace CBT 100 per cent in NCEE. The issue of computer testing is the main innovation in examination all over the world and whoever refuses to embrace it is refusing to go along with the tide of development in education,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Zonal Coordinator, National Examinations Council (NECO), Mr. Gbenga Olapade, organisers of the examination, has revealed that the National Common Entrance Examination took place in 115 centres in Lagos.

Olapade said that there were additional four centres for this year’s examination, when compared with 111 centres used for the same examination in 2015.