The Federal Ministry of Education has called on states, local governments and religious organisations to embark on intensive sensitisation in order to bring more pupils on board in its NECO examination.

Minister of Education Adamu Adamu made this known in Abuja on Friday during the 12th Edition of the ministerial press briefing. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National Examination Council (NECO) postponed the date of examination from to April 27.

Adamu, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Sonny Echono, said the postponement of the examination was necessitated by the poor number of pupils that registered for it.

He said that some states had as low as 200 applicants for the 2019 examinations. Adamu added that so far, 69,568 candidates had registered for the 2019 NECO examinations into unity schools, while insisting that the ministry hopes to meet the target of 80,000 applicants.

The National Examination Council (NECO) is responsible for the conduct of the National Common Entrance Examination into unity schools across the country; candidates who registered in the 2018 exercise stood at 71,294 as against 80,421 in 2017.

“National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) originally billed to hold tomorrow Saturday, 13th April, 2019 has been postponed by two weeks, the new date for the examination is now Saturday, 27th April, 2019.

“Regrettable as it were, the postponement has become necessary due to request from over seven states of the Federation who have asked for an extension of time to enable them to enrol more candidates.

“Some of the states have less than 200 applicants enrolled for the examination and as such may not be able to fill their quota if not given the opportunity to enrol more candidates.

“Records available to me from NECO indicate that only 69,568 candidates had registered to sit for the examination, hence, the need for an extension of time for more registration,’’ he said.

Adamu said that the website for the registration would be closed on April 25. He added that this would enable candidates register on the day of the examination, provided they have made payment and obtained their PIN on or before the closing date.