The National Examinations Council, NECO, has released the results of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination for external candidates.
Announcing the results at the council headquarters in Minna, Niger State, on Thursday, the Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof. Godswill Obioma, disclosed that a total of 41,459 candidates registered for the examination, out of which 39,503 actually sat for it.
Professor Obioma explained that a total of 26,277 candidates obtained five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics, while 34,014 candidates also obtained five credits and above, irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.
Professor Obioma disclosed that 6,465 cases of examination malpractices were recorded in the examination, against the 17,004 cases recorded in 2019, adding that this downward trend was a result of deepened monitoring of the examination by members of the Governing Board, management and senior staff of the council.
He said: “A further analysis of candidates performance indicates that a total number of 29,918 obtained credit and above in English Language while a total number of 34,061 candidates obtained credit and above in Mathematics.
“2020 ushered in very daunting challenges essentially occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic and #EndSARS protests in the pursuit of the council mandates. This necessitated the rescheduling of the various examinations organised by NECO.
‘’For instance, 2020 SSCE (External) which ought to have been concluded in November/December 2020 was conducted in February/March 2021.
“In spite of these, we were not deterred. rather we remained resilient and resolute in the conduct of our activities”.
The Registrar explained that in line with the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, four supervisors who were found culpable of aiding and abetting malpractice, had been blacklisted and would no longer be engaged in the conduct of NECO examinations.
He disclosed that one examination centre in Ogun State was also derecognized for intimidation and several attempts to induce NECO officials as well as aiding and abetting examination malpractice.
Professor Obioma further disclosed that the results of 256,000 candidates who missed some papers during the 2020 SSCE (Internal) due to the #EndSARS protests in some states and those who sat for those papers during the 2020 SSCE (External) were being released along side those of external candidates.
He added that it was gratifying to note that the examination was at no extra cost to the affected candidates.
Professor Obioma said the current developments in the country had forced the council to schedule its public examinations for year 2021 as follows: National Common Entrance Examination, NCEE, for admission of JSS 1 students into Federal Unity Colleges is scheduled for Saturday, May 29, 2021; Senior School Certificate Examination, SSCE, Internal, Monday, July 5 to Monday, August 16, 2021.
Others include Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE, Monday, August 23 to Monday, September 6, 2021.
