The National Examinations Council (NECO) has withheld the results of candidates who sat for 2022 Internal Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) because of a N500 million debt owed to the Examination Council by the state government.
The National Examinations Council revealed that the Niger State Government owes the examination body N500 million in unpaid student examination fees.
Dantani Wushishi, the examination body’s registrar, revealed this during the release of the results of the 2022 Internal Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations on Thursday in Minna.
“Niger State owes approximately N500 million because they are currently reducing their outstanding debts.” Wushishi stated, “The state government has assured us that it will pay and clear the debts.”
He confirmed that the examination body is withholding the results of all students in the state due to the state government’s debt.
The registrar went on to say that he had advised the state government to separate the names of self-sponsored candidates from those sponsored by the government so that they could access their results.
“We have requested from the state government to try and separate the names of those sponsored by the state and those sponsored by their parents and guardians,” he added.
“This year, Jigawa State paid off its debts and paid for the registration of all its students.” Kano State has one of the highest concentrations of registered students. The state owed nearly N1 billion, but this year they paid for the registration of all candidates in the state and paid more than 70% of the backlog.”
Wushishi also stated that the council saw a decrease in examination malpractices in the 2022 internal SSCE when compared to previous years.
“In the area of malpractices, 13,595 persons were caught as opposed to 20,003 in the year 2021, indicating an appreciable decrease in the number of malpractice cases,” he said.
He stated that the council had a zero-tolerance policy for malpractice, and that the council recommended de-recognition of four schools for two years due to their involvement in widespread cheating.
Wushishi also stated that supervisors who were found to be unprofessional during the examination had been sanctioned.
“29 supervisors were blacklisted for a variety of offences ranging from poor supervision, insult, and aiding and abetting during the examinations,” he said.
The registrar stated that 1,209,703 candidates registered for the examinations, while 1,198,412 took the exam.
He went on to say that the number of candidates who received five credits or higher, including English Language and Mathematics, was 727, 864, or 60.74 percent.
He added that there are 1, 031 candidates with special needs, including 98 with albinism, 177 with autism, 574 with hearing impairments, and 107 visually impaired.