Economic hardship leads to decline in NECO exam participation – Perm sec

The National Common Entrance Examination, conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO), attracted 70,608 students vying for admission to Federal Government Colleges, also known as unity schools.

This year examination saw a modest decrease in participation, with 70,608 candidates taking the exam, compared to 2023’s figure of over 72,000, a drop largely blamed on the ongoing economic difficulties facing the nation.

On Saturday, while supervising the examination process in Abuja, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, observed the effects of the economic downturn on student participation, acknowledging the challenging circumstances affecting enrollment rates.

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 has 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 reveal 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 the total of 70,608 that are so far registered which is below last year.

“Last year was 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 is most prevalent factor that maybe will 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 candidate at this level. It’s the parents that sponsors 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 also stated that candidates who were unable to register for the examination before 6am Saturday, were unable to sit for the examination.

“By six this morning, we had cases where even candidate came ready to register by payment of physical cash and transfer. We say we don’t do that. We have a process, 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 this 115 Unity colleges.”