The National Examinations Council (NECO) has withheld May/June Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results of students in public secondary schools in Niger state due to debts owed by the government.
It was learnt that students were unable to access their National Examinations Council (NECO) results after the results have been released on August 27.
While reaching out to newsmen in Niger state, the students bemoaned their inability to access their results which is compulsory in order to attend the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) screenings of the universities of their choice.
Niger State Government has admitted that it is owing the examination body N470 million and it has paid the sum of N150 million.
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education Abubakar Aliyu, who spoke to newsmen admitted that they were owing the examination body, but appealed for consideration to enable the students access their results, especially those due for post UTME screenings.
He said: “The state government has been paying NECO and West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for its students from the previous government and the arrangement has always been that when the government has funds, we pay in instalments.
“NECO is owed N400 million this year and the government has begun the payment. Last Friday, we remitted N150 million to them and we are still negotiating with them to release the results, but they have not. Hopefully, they may release it today (Monday).”
Aliyu said the government does not have enough money to give to NECO at once, adding that they will pay whenever there are funds.
“For us, as a government, we do not have money to release at once. But as a responsive government, we have a clear picture of what we want to do. Once we get money, we will make release to them. Within the availability of resources, we have given what we have and we will continue to give them what we have until we clear the accumulated debts.”
The permanent secretary said if the result is not released before the end of Monday, they will source money to pay the debts, noting that one of the directors in the ministry was in a meeting with NECO at the time of interviewing him.
NECO Information Officer Mallam Azeez Sani could not be reached to state why the body had not released the results of the students.
