…as NANS urges Buhari to confirm Gana as Registrar
By Raphael Jov
The Acting Registrar, National Examination Council (NECO), Mr Abubakar Gana has said that the establishment of NECO in 1999 was a wake up call to the West African Examinations Council that is now living up to its responsibility.
He said the coming of NECO as an indigenous examination body did not only break the monopoly but has also permanently resolved the problem of delayed admissions by tertiary institutions because of failure to release Senior Secondary School Examination results on time.
Gana spoke on Monday in Minna, the Niger State Capital, where he was conferred with merit award of excellence by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The students body led by the NANS Senate President, Comrade Abubakar Gambo, passed a vote of confidence on the Acting Registrar while also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm Gana as substantive Registrar of the Council.
Gana recalled that NECO came into being in 1999 because of agitations of the citizenry of the country as a result of issues associated with the then only examination body, WAEC, that was responsible for examining the final year students.
He said based on recommendations of various committees, NECO was established as an indigenous examination body to serve as local examination body for the country.
He said: “Since 2000, we have been conducting examinations and one advantage I want you to understand is that we have given WAEC a wake up call and they are now living to their responsibility.
” You may recall that there were times in the past where universities and other tertiary institutions took very longer period for them to admit students.
“But with our coming, we started releasing results within 90 days, which is a period between three months. We started like that but as I am talking to you today, the last release we had was 43 days,” he said.
He added that what his administration has done was to create conducive environment for efficiency and effective service delivery by the workers while ensuring the credibility and prestige of the certificates being issued to candidates.
He said all this is being done in an open and transparent manner, saying the doggedness and loyalty of the workforce largely accounted for the achievements so far attained by the Council.
The Acing Registrar said there were changes really happing in NECO and that the public would see it visibly soon in the conduct of the examination.
NANS Senate President, Comrade Gambo, in his remark said the students had to go out of its way of usual criticism to passing a vote of confidence on Gana as well as presenting merit award to him because of his exemplary leadership.
He called on President Buhari to confirm Abubakar Gana, who has been on acting capacity for over one year, as substantive Registrar of the Council.
Gambo noted that Gana has been able to prudently manage the resources of NECO resulting in the elimination of wastages and stealing thus giving rise to the remittance of almost N1 billion into the Federal Government coffers.
He further observed that this prudent management of resources made possible the reduction of registration fees for NECO examination by the immediate past of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
