By Opeyemi Gbemiro
The National Examination Council (NECO), has urged wealthy individuals and political office holders to invest more on payment of school certificate examination fees for indigent secondary students across the country.
Mr Thaddeus Ajabu, NECO Coordinator in charge of Kogi made the call on Tuesday, when he paid an advocacy/familiarisation visit to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Lokoja office.
Ajabu said that such humanitarian gesture would go a long way to ameliorate the plight of the families who were unable to pay the examination fees for their wards.
He explained that more students were clamouring for NECO examinations in Kogi, saying that, with more sponsorship from wealthy individuals and political office holders, the number would increase tremendously.
“Since my assumption as the NECO Kogi coordinator, I and my team have been advocating for supports from corporate bodies, individuals and groups to help in enrollment of more candidates for our numerous exams.
“n the recently conducted NECO SSCE external, Kogi State recorded a high turn out as 7 Centres were created for the first time in a decade” the coordinator said.
According to him, NECO results are electronically verified, where candidates can access their results from anywhere at any time once results are uploaded.
“Our results are acceptable world wide, more so that NECO conduct exam in six African Countries of Niger, Togo, Ivory Coast, the Republic of Gabon, Benin nd Equatorial Guinea. NECO also conducts SSCE internal in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“That is why we want more Candidates to register for the forth coming National Common Entrance Examination ( NCEE), for Federal Government Colleges nd Federal Science nd. Technical Collages nation wide, ” he said.
Ajabu urged politicians, especially in Kogi to see investing in NECO products as a legitimate investment that would profit them.
“Politicians can key into sponsoring more candidates depending on any of our products. We need more patronage in the state,” he said.
The coordinator expressed concern that many individuals were ignorant of the Special Examination for the “Gifted” in the country.
“This examination for the Gifted is a Federal Government’s pet programme to discover and train the gifted in our midst toward the growth and development of the nation.
“This advocacy is aimed at letting the public know and to invest in our products, most especially the gifted examination, ” he said.
Ajabu said that his visit to NAN was to seek collaboration on how publicise the five products of NECO.
He said: “the products are the Senior School Certificate Examination (Internal), the Senior School Certificate Examination (external), Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), National Common Entrance Examination and the Special Examination for the Gifted in the country.
“Unfortunately, not many people including in Kogi are aware of the gifted examination, which allows successful candidates to be admitted in a special school known as the Suleja Academy because of its location in Suleja, Niger State.
“The Gifted examination is highly competitive and very good for brilliant students to take advantage of the opportunity.
“The moment a pupil passed the examination, the FG takes over the sponsorship of such candidate – their books, feeding and others. Parents of such candidates are responsible for bringing them to the school.
“The government has handed over the conduct of the examination to NECO across the 36 states of the Federation.
He explained that a pupil must be between the age of six and eleven years old to be eligible to write the examination.
Ajabu cautioned students and parents against abbreviating their names during registration in order to avoid complications with the certificates later.
Responding, the State Correspondent, Mr Thompson Yamput, commended the NECO for coordinating candidates for its five products, which were fundamental to their future.
Yamput gave assurance of the agency’s readiness and commitment to collaborate and educate the public on the importance of various examinations being run by NECO in and outside the country. NAN
