John Adams, Minna

The Governing Board of the National Examinations Council (NECO) has approved the dismissal of 19 staff from its service for alleged certificate forgery. 

This latest dismissal is coming barely three months after the examination body dismissed no fewer than 70 staff for a similar offense.

NECO in a statement by the Head, Information and Public Affair, Mallam Azeez Sani, said the action of the organisation was a sequel to the report of Staff Certificate Verification Committee constituted by the management.

Mallam Azeez disclosed that the committee “carried out its assignment diligently by inviting some staff with questionable credentials to appear before it, during which the affected staff attested that their certificates were forged.

“The committee also contacted the schools and institutions which the affected staff claimed to have attended and the schools and institutions denied having certificated them.

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According to Azeez, NECO approved the dismissal after its 52nd Regular meeting, adding that “the Governing Board of the Council vetted the report of the Certificate Verification Committee and approved the dismissal of the affected staff.”

It would be recalled that the Governing Board had at its 17th Extra Ordinary meeting in November 2019, also approved the dismissal of 70 staff for certificate forgery.

The certificate verification exercise which is on-going is aimed at sanitising the system, the statement added.