The National Examinations Council on Thursday said 26,277 out of the 39,503 candidates who sat for its 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination for external candidates obtained five credits and above including in English Language and Mathematics.

The board’s Registrar, Prof Godswill Obioma, disclosed this at the council headquarters in Minna, Niger State, according to a statement by its Head, Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani.

According to the statement, 41,459 candidates registered out of which 39,503 actually sat for the examination.

The statement also disclosed that 6,465 cases of examination malpractices were recorded in 2020 as against 17,004 cases in 2019.

Sani quoted Obioma as attributing the reduction in cases to the result of deepening monitoring of the examination by members of the governing board, management, and senior staff of the council.

The statement read, “The National Examinations Council has released the results of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination for External Candidates.

“Announcing the results at the Council Headquarters in Minna 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.

“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.

“The Registrar who reiterated the council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, noted that appropriate standards and excellence were maintained right from the planning stage to the release of results.

“Obioma disclosed that 6,465 cases of examination malpractice were recorded in the 2020 SSCE External as against 17,004 cases in 2019.

“He noted that the reduction in the level of malpractice was as a result of deepened monitoring of the examination by members of the Governing Board, Management and Senior Staff of the Council.

“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 have been blacklisted and would no longer be engaged in the conduct of NECO examinations.

“One examination centre in Ogun State has been derecognized for intimidation and several attempts to induce NECO officials as well as aiding and abetting examination malpractice.”

Obioma also said the results of 256,000 candidates who missed some papers during the 2020 SSCE (Internal) due to the #ENDSARS protests in some states and who sat for those papers during the 2020 SSCE (External) are being released alongside those of the external candidates.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, has announced the convening of a Business Clinic to promote the growth and sustainability of the educational sector, especially in the light of the coronavirus which is having an adverse effect on the operations of schools across the world. The event is scheduled to hold via Zoom platform by 11:00am on Thursday, 23 July 2020.

“Managing Your School through the Pandemic: Engagement and Retention Strategies,” is the topic of the event and will be discussed by experts, leading players, policy influencers and proprietors in business and education management that have carved a niche for themselves at promoting the growth of education and business, towards impacting the national economy. To participate in the event, follow the link https://smeconnect.firstbanknigeria.com/webinar  to register.

The panellists at the event include; Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, Honourable Commissioner of Education, Lagos State; Otunba Yomi Otubela, President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS); Wale Abioye, Team Lead, Customer Practice in Management Consulting (KPMG); Babatunde Vaughan, Education Lead, Modern Classroom Microsoft Nigeria; Tinu Aluko, Proprietor, Busy Bee & West Mills and Bankole Adediran, Head Transaction Banking Products, First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

Speaking on the event, Mr. Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, FirstBank said “the education sector remains the bedrock of the growth and development of any nation – without a viable educational system, the human capital would be incapable of driving national growth and development. FirstBank is delighted to convene this event as it reinforces our leading role at enabling the growth of the educational sector in the country, over the years.

A recent example is the current pandemic in which the Bank has spearheaded the continued learning of school children, with a view to moving over 1 million Nigerians to e-learning, an exciting journey that has had over 45,000 active participants on the respective platforms, notably Roducate and IBM.

We appreciate the panellists invited to speak and we look forward to the knowledge and ideas that would be deliberated towards having participants enlightened on essential activities to not just sustain their schools but reinforce its growth against the odds of COVID-19. We implore players, policy influencers, school and business owners as a whole to register and participate in the event because indeed there is knowledge for everyone,” he concluded.

FirstBank has held various SME clinics in the course of the year, including a virtual event to ensure Social Distance is adhered to in this sensitive period of the COVID-19.

These events include the SME Clinics in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja as well as the Virtual SME Clinic, recently held in May.

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has made an interim remittance of N3.5 billion to the federal government’s purse after the conduct of its 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The board said it had earlier paid N3.5 billion to candidates by reducing N1,500 from the cost of ePINs sold to each candidate as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. It said this brings its total remittances this year to over N7 billion.

The board also said it will remit more as soon as its operations are concluded and proper audit of its books is completed.

JAMB said this in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday night.

He said it had been the intention of the present leadership of the examination body to return to federal coffers, whatever is left unutilised from its operational funds.

“The immediate benefit of the move manifested in the reduction by President Muhammadu Buhari of the UTME Registration fee payable by candidates from N5000 to N3500 which entails the transfer of over N3b to candidates and guardians annually via the reduction in the cost of application documents,” he said.

According to Mr Benjamin, before the reduction in the cost of application ePINs, the agency had remitted billions of naira in 2017 and replicated same in subsequent years until President Buhari’s directive to give back to candidates a percentage of the cost of registration.