Abubakar Gana, Acting Registrar of the National Examinations Council, (NECO) on thursday said with the efforts of the council in ensuring effective management of its resource, it could soon be self-funding, not needing allocation from the federation account.
Gana, stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Basic Education for the defense of NECO’s 2019 budget, calling for support from the Senate to achieve the feat.
He said “The council had also returned about N1 billion to the nation’s Consolidated Revenue Account as operational surplus from its internally generated revenue (IGR)”.
Gana speaking further expressed his desire to firm up the reforms being carried out in NECO, adding that the 2019 budget of the agency as presented to the National Assembly will be judiciously implemented.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government had recently slashed NECO registration fees from N11,350 to N9850, thus paving the way for more participation of candidates in its Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).
Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, who made the announcement said implementation of the reduction commenced in January 2019, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari gave the directive to reduce the charges in answer to the yearnings of parents.
Meanwhile, the Senate commended NECO for effectively deploying and utilizing resources allocated to it for the conduct of examinations across the country.
Chairman Senate Committee on Basic Education, Aliyu Wamako, who gave the commendation, on behalf of his colleagues, extoled the leadership of the exam body for remaining steadfast in ensuring prudence in the agency.
Wamako disclosed that in the 2018 budget, the leadership of NECO returned about N90 million unused overhead allocations into the consolidated account.
While stating that NECO was borrowing a lift from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, by prudently managing its resources, the Wamako expressed confidence in the agency to further apply its 2019 appropriation to reasonable use.
On the early release of results, the Council assured realignment of its procedures to ensure that results are released early to meet JAMB’s deadlines in order to ease off pressure mounted on awaiting-result candidates participating in the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination, UTME.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja
