Niger State House of Assembly has directed the House Committee on Education and Legislative Compliance to investigate reasons behind the non-release of the results of 30, 000 students of the state who sat for the 2019/2020 Senior Secondary School Examinations (SSCE) by the National Examinations Council (NECO).
The directive follows a public outcry by parents and guardians in the state over the non-release of results of their children and wards. It was also a sequel to the motion raised under matters of urgent public importance by Mr Malik Madaki and seconded by Shaba Gbara, both representing Bosso and Mokwa constituencies.
The Speaker of the assembly, Mr Abdullahi Bawa, while reading the resolution, said that the committee on education and legislative compliance should investigate the matter and report to the house within a week.
According to the lawmaker, “those students who sat for the National Examinations Council in 2019/2020 are yet to access their results till this moment,” adding that ‘as a result of the withholding of their results by NECO, the affected students risk forfeiting their admission into higher institutions of learning for two years.”
Representing the Bosso constituency, Malik Madaki said “The state government has a tradition of paying WAEC and NECO fees for indigenous students but we don’t know why the examination body has refused to release the results of the students.
“I am, therefore, calling on this honourable house to investigate the non-release of these results,” he said.
In his contribution, while supporting the motion, a member representing Mokwa constituency, Mallam Shaba Gbara, said it is painful that the students could not access their results due to the non-payment of their examinations fee and may stand the risk of missing out of admission into tertiary institutions.
He maintained that the House will not fold its hands and allow a few individuals to mess up the entire state; he urged the House to investigate the matter and ensure that justice is done.
After listened to contributions from members, the Speaker, Bawa Wuse, mandated the House committee on education and that of legislative to investigate the matter and submit its report within one week. The affected students had staged a peaceful protest at NECO headquarters last week to register their frustration.
The planned protest was however leaked to the organisation which quickly alerted the state police command and a detachment of armed mobile policemen in about six Hilux vans was deplored to prevent any protest.
Meanwhile, Malam Suleiman Gambo, Chairman of, House committee on education, said that the committee had written to the Commissioner for Education to appear before it.
This, he said, was to enable the commissioner to explain the reasons behind the non-release of NECO results of the affected students.