The National Examinations Council (NECO) has said that no fewer than 745,053 out of the 1,051,472 candidates that sat for this year’s June/July Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) got five credits and above including English and Mathematics.
The figure which represents 70.85 per cent, indicates 1.11 percent increase in performance of candidates compared to 2016.
Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO Prof. Charles B. Uwakwe who announced the release of the result at the NECO headquarters in Minna Niger State said: “this year’s senior school certificate examination was a huge success”.
The result also shows that 947,850, candidates representing 90.14 percent passed with five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics compared to 88..61 percent in 2016, adding that “this represents 1.63 percent improvement compared to last year”.
He disclosed that despite the Examination Council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, 50,586 (4.81%) candidates were involved in various forms of examination malpractices, saying that 276 schools were involved in what he called “mass cheating” in 34 states of the federation.
The Registrar pointed out that this figure shows 0.52 percent increase in cases of malpractice compared to 2016, stressing that as a result of this, “six schools were derecognized.
Kebbi state came first as the state with the highest cases of malpractice, recording 8,124 cases representing 16.05%.
Also, 23 supervisors who aided malpractice in one way or the other have been blacklisted.
The breakdown of the results state by state indicated that Ekiti State came first with the highest number of candidates who passed
with five credits and above in both English and Mathematics with 85 percent.
Ekiti is closely followed by Edo and Bayelsa states with 84.61 and 84.52 percent, respectively.
Professor Uwakwe 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 for designing Nigerian curriculum, contributed immensely”.