The Registrar of National Examinations Council, NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, has maintained that certificates issued by the council are accepted in foreign institutions, contrary to claims from some quarters.
Wushishi, who spoke in Abuja at a one-day retreat organized by Education Correspondents Association of Nigeria, ECAN, said between January to August 2022, the council received 490 requests from more than 50 countries across the world to confirm the authenticity of NECO results.
According to him, NECO is a strong member of the International Association for Educational Assessment and plays a vital role in the global assessment of examination.
He said some candidates with NECO certificates are being admitted into secondary and tertiary institutions in foreign countries like the U.S, Canada, Germany, India, China, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, and Sweden, adding that these countries write the council to authenticate the results.
Also speaking, the Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, who doubled as chairman of the occasion, said as at today, Nigerian education system is one of the best in the world, adding that “if not why are Nigerian graduates being sort after across the world?”
While lamenting that thousands of doctors were leaving the shores of the country for greener pastures abroad, Ajiboye said he has signed over 260 letters of professional standing for Nigerian teachers going to teach in Canada alone.
He disclosed that he had a conversation with a UK official about signing letters of professional standing for Nigeria teachers, and the UK will soon start receiving teachers from Nigeria.
“The quality of our graduates can compete favourably anywhere in the world. People talk about falling standards, but who sets the standards?” He said.
On his part, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, Represented by JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said state institutions were created to address the need for access into higher education.
Oloyede said one of the major problems facing the school system is that spaces in the country’s institutions of higher learning are limited and most candidates cannot afford these institutions.
The JAMB boss suggested that “The country should be able to support the education scheme whereby a certain percentage can be paid by the Federal Government so that subscribers can attend private institutions.”
He also spoke on the issue of cut-off marks, stating that the cut-off mark is a minimum benchmark that institutions should not go below and does not affect education standards.
