Neco crisis

Nigerian Parents and students on Wednesday expressed mixed feelings on the alleged scrapping of the National Examination Council (NECO). The Federal Government had resolved to scrap some of its agencies in line with recommendations of the Stephen Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies. Akin Amugiri, a parent, told the country's News Agency in Abuja that the plan to scrap NECO would hamper the smooth foundation already laid down in the education sector. “Instead of having the monopoly of West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), the coming of NECO has helped to bring about a new reign. “It has provided an alternative rather than just one single examination body and it has created that multiplicity, inclusion and hope to candidates who want to gain admission into university,’’ he said.Amugiri said the scrapping of NECO would be like returning to status quo, where people would wait for a long time before results would be released. According to him, I think the best way is to fashion out ways of making NECO work better than an outright scrapping.’’ He noted that before the scrapping of NECO, other plans should be put in place to give hope to candidates at that level. He said “WAEC as the name implies belongs to the entire West African region and Nigeria’s education system cannot be the same in every country.He said that Nigeria had not got its education sector right, adding that “until the country gets there, NECO should not be scrapped. “We still need organisations like NECO to help us reflect the peculiarity of our situation as a nation.’’ Another parent, Edith Okafor, however, said that the scrapping of NECO was a good initiative. According to her, NECO is a duplication of WAEC efforts. I see WAEC as a wide sphere than NECO and more authentic. `Students seem to pass NECO more than WAEC which is an indication that it is not well regulated,’’ Okafor said. A student, Miss Adelewa Adeniyi, said the scrapping of NECO would affect the majority of students who relied on the organisation’s certificates. She said: “most students who fail the WAEC always rely on NECO as an alternative to move forward in their quest to acquire education.’’ Another student, Miss Anthonia Okon, urged government to recede the decision to scrap NECO. He said the scrapping of NECO would further frustrate Nigerian youths who depend on the body. Ezenwa Nwagwu, the Chairman of Save Education, a non-governmental organisation, said that government’s decision to scrap NECO was aimed at saving cost. Nwagwu, however, said that the decision did not consider the plight of the millions of students who depend on the body to move forward. `Scrapping NECO is not necessary as it will allow WAEC to have a monopoly of examinations in West Africa, and Nigeria, in particular,’’ she said.“It helped to expand the space for candidates .”