Kebbi, Taraba record low candidates in National Common Entrance; Zamfara records only 28
There has been a ridiculously low number of candidates sitting for the National Common Entrance Examination in the northern part of the country.
Zamfara, in particular, has just 28 candidates who have registered for the examination.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, made this worrying development known in a statement on Wednesday.
There has been an extension of the date of portal closure because of the low turnout, as the education board aims to convince more candidates to register.
Adamu’s statement read in part, “Ahead of the 2018 National Common Entrance Examination for admission of candidates into the 104 Federal Government colleges on Saturday, April 14, the minister has expressed worry over low registration for the examination so far.
“According to him, the report of a meeting of major stakeholders in the education sector said candidates registered in 2018 stood at 71,294 as against 80,421 that wrote the examination in 2017.
“The report further shows three states with the highest number of pupils registered so far are: Lagos with 24,465 candidates, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with 7,699 and Rivers State with 4,810 candidates respectively. On the other hand, three states with extreme low registration are: Zamfara with only 28 candidates, Kebbi, 50 and Taraba, 95 candidates respectively.”
The minister said the examination would go on as planned and urged state governments, parents, heads of schools and relevant interest groups in areas to take steps to remedy the situation.
The low turnout of candidates could be blamed on constant unrest arising from Boko Haram attacks in the northern region.
The standard of education in the northern part of Nigeria has been one of the country’s biggest challenges.
