The Acting Registrar, National Examinations Council (NECO), Abubakar Gana, has said the examination body needs biometric verification machines in its 16,000 centres to strengthen its efforts towards eliminating identity theft during the conduct of its examination.
The registrar explained that identity theft has become a common form of examination malpractice.
He said that NECO has acquired 8,000 biometric verification machines to help reduce the challenge.
The registrar stated these while briefing the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on the mandate and achievements of the NECO between May 2018 and September 2019.
He noted that cases of examination malpractice, especially impersonation and collusion by supervisors, teachers and school administrators during its examination remained a major challenge.
Gana also urged the minister to formulate a deliberate policy aimed at promoting discipline and a culture of honesty among teachers, school administrators and students.
The registrar said that council had implemented the federal government’s downward review of NECO examination fees to N2, 500.00, N4, 000.00 and N9, 850.00.
“The implementation was carried out in the registration of all NECO examinations this year,” he said.
He added that NECO has successfully developed and integrated the 2019 November/December SSCE registration software on its new website.
Gana said that regular registration for the examination effectively took-off on 19th August 2019 and is scheduled to end on 28th October, 2019 at 12.00 midnight.