NECO : We Are Not Responsible for Non-registration of Schools

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja and Laleye Dipo in Minna

The National Examination Council (NECO) has said that it was not responsible for the inability of some candidates to write the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), which commenced nationwide last Monday.

Some schools across the country have complained that their students were not able to write the examination due to the lack of adequate time for the candidates to be registered.

But NECO said in a statement signed by its Head of Information and Public Relations, Azeez Sani that: “Opportunity was provided well in advance for all schools to register their candidates. “This was given that some schools and/or candidates may have faced difficulties in the course of the registrations.

“Due largely to this, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council extended the duration for registration to 12 midnight of Friday, August 21, 2020. The extension was widely publicised through various platforms.

“The aim was largely to accommodate late registration.

“It is regrettable that despite these measures, some schools failed to complete the registration or enrollment processes. It is therefore instructive to restate that the closure of the Portal on the said date was not punitive or designed to undermine registrants and schools,” Sani said.

He argued that the closure of the portal “was to allow the Council produce and distribute materials to Examination Centres for seamless conduct of the exercise”

The statement assured the public of NECO’s “commitment to effective and efficient conduct of all examinations within its statutory mandates”

According to Sani, the organisation “will continue to engage all stakeholders as may be appropriate”.