Principals aiding and abetting exam fraud, says NECO

The National Examinations Council  h(NECO)accused principals of aiding and abetting exam fraud.

The Chairman of  NECO Governing Board, Dr Abubakar Sadiq, said the council was aware that some principals  connive with impersonators to  sit the exam, hence they had been  resisting the use of biometric machines for candidates’ screening.

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Sadiq  said there was no going back on biometric verification.

According to him,   the  body  will  omit schools or exam centres where candidates  do  not go through   biometric  verification  for the  examination.

Sadiq told our correspondent  during  a  test run  of 8,000 newly bought biometric machines and 20 Toyota Hilux for examination monitoring that they  would simplify the candidate registration process.

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He  said, “In the past, people had to buy scratch cards  to register for NECO examinations. That is now gone. Candidates can now register online and as they register, their biometrics is also captured. We have a biometric data capture for every school.

“On  examination day, monitors will reach every school. We can eliminate impersonators when all students have their data on the biometric machine. Nobody can come from another school and sit  exams.

For the schools  resisting  and refusing  using our machines, their examination will be cancelled. We know the principals who have connived with impersonators to cheat; they  resist the use of biometrics. We are aware. There is no doubt about that. We are aware and we are ready for them.

“Any principal of any school or any examination centre that will not allow us to capture the biometrics of their candidates we will cancel their results. They will not even take the exams.

So we are giving them warning and notice. We have tested the machines and I am sure we will have 95 per cent accuracy.”

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Meanwhile,   NECO says it decided to suspend the  ongoing 2019 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination   10  because of the Sallah break,   saying  the exam continues on  June 10.