By Tina Omoregie
The Nigerian government has given assurance that all necessary steps have been taken to ensure security of schools at all levels across the country.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arch Sonny Echono said this in Abuja while monitoring the conduct of the 2021 Senior School Certificate Examination of the National Examination Council (NECO).
According to Echono, the report of the Sub Committee on the provision of security for schools across Nigeria will soon be ready.
He said the committee has considered the involvement of communities, local vigilantes, Civil Defence and the military in the provision of security for schools at all levels.
The Permanent Secretary further disclosed that the committee has designed an architecture for the schools classifying them in terms of high, medium and low risks, noting all that needs to be done in each particular case.
“We want to be able to report in real time to prepare our students on how to react in times of incidence like this, we have also plan for rapid response mechanism.
“I can assure you that everything is being done to ensure that schools are safe across Nigeria.”
Speaking on the conduct of the 2021 NECO SSCE, Echono made known that a total number of 1.3m candidates sat for the exam nationwide.
He expressed satisfaction in the conduct of the NECO examinations saying credibility of the exams are ensured.
“Clearly NECO has gotten full grip and hand on the process, we are impress on the progress recorded across the country, we are also pleased with the measures taken to curtail incidences of examination malpractices.
“On our side , we ensure that we put the people in the right places, the credibility of our exams are ensured, we have improved on the process, integrity and credibility of our exams are upheld across the country.”
Echono stressed that the Council has also improved logistics and security of delivery of examination materials promptly.
The Permanent Secretary monitored the NECO SSCE in Government Secondary School Garki and the Federal Government Boys College APO, FCT Abuja.