Fred Ezeh, Abuja and John Adams, Minna
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called for a thorough review of financial and administrative activities of past officials of the National Examination Council (NECO) to ascertain the genesis of corrupt activities in the examination body.
NANS said the call was informed by the recent remittance of N1 billion to national treasury by the present management of NECO from its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Its Senate President, Abubakar Mohammed Gambo, made the suggestions when he led NANS officials on a commendation visit to NECO Acting Registrar, Abubakar Gana, in Minna, on Monday.
The student union body appreciated the accountability and transparent leadership style of the acting NECO Registrar, but insisted that ongoing review of activities should be extended to other past Registrars and officials, and not restricted to the suspended Registrar, Prof. Charles Uwakwe.
He said: “We stand with resonating conviction to call on Federal Government, to as matter of urgency lol, carefully look through record books of NECO to dispassionately assess what transpired in the past and the current situation there.”
They passed vote of confidence on the Registrar and appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, to give the current management the opportunity to serve, having proven to be competent, experienced and willing to sanitise the system and regain public confidence.
The acting NECO Registrar appreciated the recognition and promised to continue the implementation of programmes that would boost the credibility of the system.
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Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, told our correspondent in Abuja, recently, that the committee set up to investigate the allegations against the suspended NECO Registrar, Prof. Uwakwe, submitted its report few months ago.
He said the report revealed high level of corruption and mismanagement, even though it might not have been committed by the suspended Registrar.
“But he had the opportunity to make adequate corrections but failed. Same thing was going on in JAMB until Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, initiated transformational policies that brought an end to era of scratch card fraud and other impunity in the agency.
“He identified the loopholes and covered them, and that resulted in an improved transparency and accountability in the activities of JAMB. Notwithstanding, because of weight of the findings particularly as regards scratch cards, the committee’s report was referred to some government agencies for professional input.”
