CSOs Decry Katsina’s Nonpayment of NECO’s N400m Examination Fees
By Francis Sardauna
The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Katsina State have expressed concern over the withholding of examination results of students of public secondary schools in the state by the National Examination Council (NECO) over failure of the state government to settle alleged outstanding fees of N400 million.
Consequently, the coalition urged the state Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, to as a matter of urgency, pay the outstanding fees as failure to clear the debt might affect the students’ chances of securing admission into tertiary institutions for this year academic session.
In a statement titled “The plight of Katsina State public senior secondary school candidates over the withheld 2020 NECO results”, the state Chairman of the CSOs, AbdurRahman Abdullahi Dutsin-Ma, said the scenario also affected private candidates who sat for the examinations in public schools.
He said facts available to the CSOs in the state have shown that the examination body refused to release the 2020 results of the candidates over the inability of the state government to defray the examination fees it is owing NECO amounting to N400 million.
The chairman of the civil society organisations noted that the development is reflecting badly on the image of the state and can as well pose a threat to the peace and harmony as most of the affected candidates and their parents are on edge.
Dutsin-man, in the statement, said: “The facts before the CSOs show that NECO refused to release the results over the inability of Katsina State Government to defray the examination fees the state owes NECO amounting to N400,000,000. Although a part payment of N82,000,000 has been made.
“Despite the part payment and the good understanding between NECO and the state government, the results still remained withheld; and this is reflecting badly on the image of the state and can as well pose threat to peace and harmony.
“Most of the affected candidates and their parents/guardians are on edge, especially the candidates who paid for themselves because they did not either sit or passed the qualifying examination as there is no justification whatsoever for withholding their results. This can definitely impact negatively on the development stride of the state.”
He appealed to the state government to sort out issues with NECO so as to expedite the release of the results of “these students to enable them move to the next educational level like their counterparts who graduated from private schools”.
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Education, Dr. Badamasi Lawal Charanchi, confirmed that the state government had issues to settle with NECO which invariably might have prompted the withholding of the last examination results.
Charanchi, who refused to mention the exact amount the state government is owing NECO, said about N80 million had been paid and efforts were on to pay the remaining balance.
According to the commissioner, the state government had from 2015 to date, expended the sum of over N3.1 billion for Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) for thousands of students in the state.
He said: “Instead of civil society organisations and parents in Katsina state to appreciate the efforts of the state government in the area of payment of SSCE, they are busy talking about balance of NECO payment.”
