JOHN ADAMS MINNA
The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of the examination conducted for private candidates between November and December 2018, with significant improvement in performance.
The acting Registrar/Chief Executive NECO Mallam Abubakar, Mohammed Gana, who announced the result in Minna on Friday, said that there was an improvement in the performance of candidates who sat for the examination, especially in English and Mathematics.
According to Gana, out of the 59, 963 candidates who registered for the examination 54,765 of them eventually sat for it.
Giving the breakdown of the results, the acting Registrar disclosed that 47,031 candidates, representing 79.27 percent obtained five credits and above in Mathematics and English language respectively.
He further explained that 57,275 candidates, representing 82.32 percent got five credits and above in Mathematics.
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Also, out 57,842 that sat for English, 44,497, representing 76.93 percent got either distinction or credit.
The registrar explained that “in view of the fact that the examination was for private candidates who were no longer in the school system and looking for one or two credits, the desperation to engage in malpractice was high.
This led to an increase in the percentage of candidates involved in malpractice, compared to the figure for previous examination, adding that “while in 2017 a total of 4,425 candidates were involved, 12,084 candidates were captured in 2018”.
“This reflects the desperation by candidates seeking to cut corners and also shows the determination by the council to apprehend the culprits in line with our zero tolerance for examination malpractice.”
Mallam Gana said the council was however devising more ingenious ways to help in curbing the malpractice level, just as the candidates are coming up with new methods.