The National Examination Council (NECO), 2019 Common Entrance Examination into Federal Government schools was conducted across Nigeria on Saturday.
The Acting Registrar, Abubakar Gana, disclosed that the result of the examination would be out on May 1, and admission would be based on 60 per cent for merit and 40 per cent for quota and others.
He, however, attributed the drop in the number of candidates to lack of sponsorship by some politicians.
Gana made the assertion on Saturday in Abuja during the monitoring of the examination in some of the centres.
He said that over 80,000 candidates registered for the examination in 2018 while 75, 635 registered for the 2019 National Common Entrance Examination.
“We registered 75, 635 as at yesterday, which is a drop in number in 2018.
“The number dropped because of the politics in the country. The politicians that are used to bankrolling candidates for this exams were busy in the field so it affected the number.
“Most of these candidates in the Northern states are assisted by politicians,” he said.
Gana added that the low registration had also prompted the earlier shift in the examination date from April 13 to April 27 to give opportunity for more people to register.
The acting NECO Registrar said the state with the least number of registered candidates was Zamfara with 59 while other Northern states with low registration figures had before the examination date increased by 100 per cent compared to 2018.
He said that Lagos state had the highest number with over 23, 000 candidates.
“Apart from Zamfara State, all the states of the federation recorded significant number of registered candidates.
”The seven states that had very low registration figures leading to the earlier postponement of the examination all recorded significant increase in the number of registered candidates between the earlier date and today.
He explained that the number of candidates to be admitted would be based on the carrying capacity which would be handled by the ministry of education.
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