No fewer than 69,828 pupils sat the 2022 National Common Entrance Examination (NECO) for admission into the 110 federal government colleges across the country.

Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, disclosed this on Saturday, when he led some top ministry and NECO officials on a monitoring exercise to some centres in Abuja.

Mr Adamu, who was represented by David Adejo, the permanent secretary of the ministry, added that out of the total figure, there are more female applicants than their male counterparts in the on-going examination.

“Of the 69,000 plus, we have 36,855 female applicants while the balance of 32,000 plus are male,” he said.

On his assessment of the exercise, he noted that the examination has been hitch-free and peaceful, adding that laid out standards and criteria would strictly be adhered to in the selection of the successful candidates.

“As far as Nigerian basic education is concerned, and in respect to the junior and secondary schools, the unity schools still remain the best, so for you to get into it, it has to be competitive.

“We are not looking at taking all the 69,000 plus, we are taking the best of the 69,000 plus and there are standards that measure what you take.

“So the standard and criteria have been put on ground, so I don’t see us having a problem with all that,” he said.

On his part, Ibrahim Wushishi, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, NECO, confirmed that Lagos State recorded the highest number of registered candidates for this year’s examination.

“Lagos state registered the highest number of candidates with 19,516 candidates, while the least registered state is Kebbi with 74 candidates; they had 37 males and 37 females,” he said. 

(NAN)