Exam Malpractice: NECO Fingers Four Northern States As Culpable

By Ayodele Oni

States in the Southern part of the country got a clean slate from the National Examinations Council,(NECO) just as it identified four states in the North as leading in examination malpractices.

The States, Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Kebbi states, according to NECO, have featured prominently in the list of schools involved in examination malpractices in Nigeria.

Registrar of NECO, Dantani Wushishi, disclosed that examination malpractices are rampant in Northern states and high in Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Kebbi States in the past five years.

He disclosed this during his presentation at the 2021 Biennial National Conference and AGM of the Association of Model Islamic Schools.

The conference was titled, ‘Consequences of Examination Malpractice: Closing the gaps and incentives for National Growth.’

Wushishi, pointed out that “In 2016, Bauchi had (8.17%), Kaduna (6.20%), Kano (5.51%), Plateau (5.31%), and Sokoto state (8.87%) experienced high level of examination malpractice.

“In 2017, Bauchi (10.79%), Kebbi (16.06%), Borno (7.87%) and Kano (7.29%) states featured prominently in high level of examination malpractice.

“In 2018, Kano (12.45%), Kebbi (10.71%), Gombe (5.40%) and Zamfara (5.14%) states were more involved in examination malpractices.

“In 2019, Bornu (13.08%), Kano (11.70%), Kebbi (8.67%), Taraba (5.04%) and Yobe (6.56%) states had high level of examination malpractice.

“Similarly, in 2020, Adamawa (18.51%), Bauchi (7.88%), Kaduna (6.87%), Kano (7.88%) and Katsina (18.01%) states had high level of examination malpractice.”

Wushishi noted that in the last five years under study, Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Kebbi states featured prominently in the high level of examination malpractice states.

The Registrar lamented over the leakage of examination questions in the last five years adding that aiding and abetting, copying foreign materials, collusion and double scripts were more in occurance during years under review.

This, he said, has lowered educational standards in Nigeria adding that it has the potential of making the nation’s educational institutions to produce quacks and inferior manpower as graduates.

He, therefore, urged the government to relax on the emphasis on certification and paper qualification in the country and advocated for appropriate sanctions on culprits of examination malpractices.