The Federal Government has expressed worry over low registration of candidates for the 2018 National Common Entrance Examination for admissions into the 104 Federal Government Colleges.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has accordingly, directed the National Examination Council (NECO), to leave open the registration portal provided by the Council till April 13, 2018 to enable more eligible candidates register.

This was contained in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Priscilla Ihuoma.

The Common Entrance Examination conducted by NECO is scheduled to hold on Saturday, April 14, 2018 for 2018/2019 academic session.

Adamu said the extension was necessary to boost Federal Government’s drive to guarantee access and equity in educational development in Nigeria.

He disclosed that the report of a meeting of major stakeholders in the education sector indicated that as of March 03, 2018, total number of candidates registered stood at 71, 294 as against 80,421 that sat for the examination in 2017.

The report further shows three states with the highest registration so far. Lagos has 24,465 candidates, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja 7,699 and River State with 4,810 candidates respectively.

On the other hand, three states with extreme low registration are Zamfara with only 28 candidates, Kebbi 50 and Taraba 95 candidates respectively.

The Minister reaffirmed the determination of the ministry to hold the examination as planned and enjoined state governments, parents, heads of schools and relevant interest groups, particularly those areas with low registration to take step to remedy the situation.

•Text (excluding headline) courtesy of Saturday Tribune.