Seventy-six pupils had the highest score of 203 in this year’s National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) into 110 Federal Government colleges, also called Unity Schools.
According to the results announced on Wednesday by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Andrew Adejo, six pupils recorded the lowest mark of 01.
The examination was conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO) on the 3rd June.
Adejo announced the results after the NECO Registrar, Prof. Dantani Wushishi officially presented the report to him at a media briefing in Abuja.
Giving a breakdown of the results, Adejo said: “A total of 72,865 pupils registered, compared to 71,738 for 2022, with Lagos State having the highest number of 18,644 and Taraba with the lowest of 102. With 38,801 female registrants against 34,064 males, we are making progress with bridging the gender parity; and a total of 69,829 pupils sat for the examination.
“A total of 3,036 pupils were absent; 76 had the highest score of 203; while the lowest score was 01 mark and this was scored by six pupils”.
The Permanent Secretary said that the NCEE was for admission into Junior Secondary Schools (JSS 1) of Federal Unity Colleges.
Commenting on the admission criteria for selection of qualified candidates into Federal Unity Colleges, Adejo said this remained the same as “60 per cent Merit; 30 per cent Equality of State and 10 per cent Exigency”.
He assured parents and candidates that the Federal Ministry of Education would ensure that all admission processes are concluded timely and in line with the above criteria.
The Permanent Secretary hailed the Zamfara State governor for the appreciable increase in registrants from over 1,000 to 2,091 and his efforts to offset the debts the state owed NECO.
Adejo urged Adamawa, Bayelsa and Kebbi States to register more pupils for the NCEE.
He said: “The NCEE is a highly competitive examination, which is administered every year to Nigerian children at home and abroad who desire to gain admission into any of our 110 Unity Schools spread across all parts of the country. These Unity Schools continue to strengthen our unity in line with their motto: Pro Unitate.
“This year’s edition of the examination was written on Saturday, 3 June 2023 in Nigeria, as well as Benin Republic and Togo. I am pleased to present the following major highlights:
“I would like to thank everybody that has contributed to making this day possible, starting from the management and workers of the National Examinations Council (NECO), the examination monitors, markers and, of course, the media who were with us during one of the monitoring and are with us today. The conduct of the examination was hitch–free, which indicates that NECO is improving in the delivery of its examinations.
“As you are all aware, our Federal Unity Colleges have become the first port of call for most parents in the country. Although we are currently facing challenges of infrastructural development, feeding and teacher quality, I want to assure you that the Federal Government is doing its best to ensure better conditions for effective teaching and learning in our schools”.
