Delta State came out best in the Senior School Certificate Examination results released by the National Examination sCouncil (NECO) in Minna on Thursday.

Of the 22,388 candidates that sat for the examination, 18,698 got five credits and above in five subjects including English and Mathematics.

Edo and Lagos States came second and third respectively while Yobe State candidates performed the least in the examination which took place nationwide between May and June this year.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Professor Abdulrasheed Garba, who released the results, the first since he assumed office just over three months ago, said a total of 664,747 candidates out of the 969,491 that sat for the examination had five credits and above including English and Mathematics as against 511,931 out of 978,886 which scored the same marks last year.

The two subjects are major criteria for entry into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The Registrar said 43,608 cases of malpractices were recorded with those who had their cases established having their results cancelled.

Garba said further that schools with defaults had their results withheld until the council takes its final decisions.

“We have de-recognised seven schools and centres for their involvement in malpractices cases with at least two-year ban and some forever. This action also affects ad-hoc staff, we have blacklisted those involved in malpractices,” the Registrar added.

  Garba who emphasised the need for students to be more serious with their studies, also challenged the state governments to lay more emphasis on education by injecting more into the sector.

He also said the selection process for external examiners have been modified with minimum requirement for participation now Higher National Diploma or Bachelors degree.

Garba disclosed that an Information Communication Technology Management Committee has been set up to reposition the computer centre and place it in line with global best practices in educational assessment while efforts would be made to enhance the capacities of both internal and external personnel through their sponsorship to conferences and training. - This Day