The National Examination Council (NECO) has taken a giant step to scrap/discontinue the usage of scratch cards for it's Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) result checking activities.

Chairman of the board, Abubakar Saddiq confirmed this new development as he unveiled 20 Toyota Hilux Vans purchased by NECO in Minna, Niger State. Saddiq further stated that the agency has procured about 8000 bio-metric capturing machines for the stress-free registration of candidates during its examinations.

Here's an excerpt from the NECO chairman's speech;

“In the last examination, people have to buy scratch cards to register for NECO examination. That is out — no more scratch cards. People (will) register online, and they (will) be given a code, and they will go ahead to register.

“As they register, their biometrics are captured. Every school is on a particular biometric data capturing machine. Every data is captured on that small machine.

“It is impossible for anybody to impersonate a candidate during our exams because the captured data is on our platform,”

Additionally, the examination boards Acting Registrar, Abubakar Gana has reiterated that the procured equipments are in a bid to ease the logistics and security aspect of the National Council Examination (NECO). While relating the statistics of yesteryear's NECO registration, Gana revealed that over 51,000 candidates register for NECO examinations yearly with the use of scratchcards, an act which has made it a difficult task to curb malpractices. The newly acquired biometrics machines totaling about 8,000 had cost the agency about ₦500million while the Toyota Hilux trucks cost about ₦327,800,000. In Gana's own words;

“Each of the vehicles cost N16, 390,000 while a unit of the biometric capture machine was bought at N62, 500,”

This is the first time in a long time that the National Examination Council (NECO) is shying away from the use of scratchcards for the registration of its candidates. We're here hoping that this isn't another scheme to siphon money by some crooked government officials.

Fun Facts of The National Examination Council (NECO) Scraping The Use of Scratchcards
This is the first time in The National Examination Council's history that biometrics capture is favored over the traditional use of scratchcards.
Abubakar Saddiq is the chairman of The National Examination Council (NECO).
Abubakar Gana is the Acting Registrar of The National Examination Council.
A single biometrics capture machine costs The National Examination Council (NECO) the sum of ₦62,500.
Each of the Toyota Hilux Trucks procured by The National Examination Council (NECO) costs about ₦16,390,000.
The new National Examination Council (NECO) registration system might be a success or a failure. Only time will tell.

SOURCE