From John Adams, Minna

The National Examination Council (NECO) has announced that no fewer than 894,101 out of the 1,209,992 candidates who sat for the 2020 June/July Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) made five credits and above, including in English and Mathematics.

The figure, which represents 91.91 per cent, indicates a 2.3 per cent increase in performance of candidates compared to 2019.

NECO Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Prof Godswill Obioma, who announced the release of the result at the NECO headquarters in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Wednesday, said: ‘This year’s senior school certificate examination was a huge success compared to 2019 despite the hitches associated with this year’s Examinations.’

The result also shows that 1,112,041 candidates representing 91.91 per cent passed with five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics, adding that “this shows an increase of 2.01 per cent compared to 2019.

He disclosed that a total number of 1,221,447 registered for the June/July 2020 school based examination, out of which only 1,209,992 eventually sat for the examination, adding that 76 subjects were examined.

A breakdown of the result shows that 973,331 candidates, representing 82.68 percent scored credits and above in English.

In the same vein, 1,060,100 candidates, representing 90.08 per cent scored credit and above in mathematics.

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Professor Obioma disclosed that despite the examination council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, 33,470 candidates were involved in various forms of examination malpractices, representing 2.61 per cent compared to 2019 of 40,630 representing 3.53 percent.

In view of this, he disclosed that “11 schools (4 in Adamawa, 2 in Kaduna, 2 in Niger, one each in Taraba and FCT) were recommended for de-recognition for two years for their involvement in mass cheating /while school cases”

He added that no fewer than 24 supervisors were blacklisted for various offences ranging from poor supervision which aiding and abetting, connivance with non-candidates to write answers on chalkboards.

Prof Obioma maintained that the success recorded this year could be attributed to both external and internal factors, adding that ‘NECO candidates are examined based on Nigeria modern curriculum while the new cream of staff, as well as synergy with other bodies responsible in designing Nigerian curriculum, contributed immensely.’

According to him, ‘the 2020 June/July SSCE can therefore be adjourned to be a huge success, and I am delighted to confirm that NECO has again delivered on its mandate.’

On the candidates who missed the Examinations due to the #EndSARS protests, the Registrar said the Council has made special arrangements for these candidates, adding that ‘the affected candidates will now sit for these papers during the forthcoming 2020 SSCE (external) scheduled for Monday 1st February to 3rd March 2021.’

He added that these special arrangements will be at no extra cost to the affected candidates.