A total of 70,603 candidates, on Saturday, sat for the 2024 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) in the unity colleges nationwide.
Registrar of NECO, Prof Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this while monitoring the exercise on Saturday at Model Secondary School, Maitama, and Government Day Secondary School, Wuse 2 Abuja.
He stated that the examination was conducted in 599 centres across the country.
Wushishi said 33,335 males registered for the 2024 NCEE, while 37,268 females registered for the exercise totalling 70,603.
He lamented that the 2024 registration was lower than that of 2023 which had 34,064 males and 38,801 females, totalling 72,865.
Lagos State had the highest number of applicants with 17,751, while Federal Capital Territory (FCT) came second with 10,209 applicants and Anambra came third place with 4,972 applicants
Bayelsa, Borno, and Gombe had the least number of candidates participating in the exercise, after registering only 133, 138, and 174 candidates respectively.
The NECO boss attributed the low registration in 2024 to economic factors as the exam body had slightly raised the registration fee and parents, who are grappling with the effect of the economy, were responsible for sponsoring candidates at this level.
Wushishi said: “For the males and females, last year’s registration was higher than this year’s registration. This could be attributed to so many factors; economic factor is the most prevalent factor that could hinder this large registration.”
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, expressed satisfaction with what NECO has put in place to ensure a smooth and seamless exercise.
