A total of 70,603 candidates sat for the 2024 National Common Entrance Examination, NCEE, conducted by the National Examinations Council, NECO, into the 110 Unity Colleges nationwide.
Registrar of NECO, Prof Dantani Wushishi, disclosed this while monitoring the exercise on Saturday, at Model Secondary School, Maitama and Government Day Secondary School, Wuse 2 Abuja.
The NECO boss said 33,335 males and 37,268 females registered for the 2024 NCEE conducted in 599 centres across the country.
Meanwhile, the total number of registered candidates for this year’s examination indicated a decline as compared to the 2023 edition, a development the NECO boss blamed on economic factor.
On her part, the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, who gave a general assessment of the conduct of the exercise, expressed satisfaction with what NECO has put in place to ensure a smooth and seamless exercise.
Data released by the council showed that Lagos came top with the highest number of candidates, totaling 17,751, while FCT came second with 10,209 candidates and Anambra in third place with 4,972 candidates.
Bayelsa, Borno and Gombe had the least number of candidates participating in the exercise, after registering only 133, 138 and 174 candidates respectively.
