NECO faces senate scrutiny over withheld revenue, weeks after proposing a fee hike it called necessary

The National Examinations Council (NECO) is among roughly 40 federal agencies the Senate has moved to summon over allegations of failing to remit revenue to the Federal Government, a development that lands just weeks after the examination body proposed, then had suspended, a controversial increase in its SSCE registration fee.

The Senate probe

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Sani Musa, resolved to compel NECO, alongside the CBN, NNPCL, and dozens of other agencies, to appear and account for internally generated revenue, operating surpluses, and statutory remittances into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Musa alleged that several of the named agencies have been withholding government funds since as far back as 2020, in violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Finance Act 2022. As of this report, NECO has not been named as one of the agencies with a specified withheld amount, and no breakdown by individual agency has been made public.

The fee hike

In June, NECO’s proposed registration fee increase was approved by the Federal Ministry of Education, before being suspended in early July following public backlash from parents, students, and opposition politicians. The ministry cited “the country’s economic realities and the escalating cost of organising credible national examinations” as the reasoning behind the original proposal.

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Nothing currently on the public record establishes a direct link between NECO’s alleged non-remittance and its stated funding pressures, the Senate’s allegation concerns money NECO may be withholding from government, which, if anything, would suggest the body has more retained funds available than its fee-hike justification implied, not less. Whether that retained revenue has any bearing on NECO’s operating budget, or whether the two financial questions are entirely unconnected, is something only NECO itself can clarify.

That’s precisely the question worth putting to them directly: if NECO is now accused of withholding revenue owed to government, does that change the “escalating cost” rationale it gave for the fee increase and how does the council reconcile asking Nigerian families to pay more while allegedly not remitting funds it already collects?