By Desire Emmanuel
A total of 58,187 pupils on Saturday, June 6, sat for this year’s entrance examination into various Unity Schools across the country with girls outnumbering the boys according to figures by the National Examination Council (NECO).
The figures indicated that there were 31,800 girls that registered for the national common entrance examination compared to 26,387 boys, indicating that the girls outnumbered the boys by 5,403.
This revelation was made when the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad, monitored the examination process at Model Secondary School, Maitama; Government Science Technical College, Garki and Federal Government Boys College, Apo, all in Abuja.
He was accompanied by the Registrar of NECO, Professor Ibrahim Wushishi, to the three centres.
Speaking after the inspection, the minister expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination, describing the exercise as orderly, well-coordinated, and professionally supervised.
“We’ve been to three schools and I’m happy with the conduct of the examination in all the centres visited. The students are orderly, they are well seated, the examination is ongoing and it started on time,” she said.
While commending the arrangements, Ahmad expressed concern over the number of absentee candidates recorded in some centres.
“We observed that there are a number of students absent from the examination. In one of the halls, about 18 candidates were absent. We need to look into the factors responsible for this because it is quite significant,” she stated.
The minister also reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to providing quality infrastructure in schools to promote effective teaching and learning.
While speaking on the exercise, the NECO Registrar disclosed that a total of 58,187 candidates registered for this year’s examination, which shows a decline from the 64,578 candidates recorded in 2025.
On the female pupils outnumbering the males, he said: “The higher number of female candidates is an indication of the efforts of the ministry in promoting girl-child education. It shows that we are achieving results in that direction.”
The registrar added that reports received from across the country indicated that the examination was conducted smoothly and without major incidents.
According to NECO data, Lagos State recorded the highest number of registered candidates with 13,228, while Taraba State had the lowest figure with only 15 candidates.
