A total of 58,187 candidates on Saturday sat for the 2026 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) conducted by the National Examinations Council for admission into Federal Government Colleges nationwide.
The Registrar of NECO, Ibrahim Wushishi, disclosed this during a monitoring exercise in Abuja alongside the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad.
Wushishi said the figure represents a decline from the 64,578 candidates who registered for the examination in 2025.
According to him, female candidates outnumbered their male counterparts, with more than 31,000 girls registered compared to about 26,000 boys.
He attributed the trend to ongoing efforts by the education ministry to promote girl-child education across the country.
The NECO registrar also revealed that Lagos State recorded the highest number of registrations with 13,228 candidates, while Taraba State had the lowest with just 15 candidates.
Wushishi noted that reports received from examination centres nationwide indicated that the exercise was largely peaceful and hitch-free.
Speaking after visiting examination centres in Abuja, Ahmad expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the examination, commending the orderly arrangement of candidates and the timely commencement of the exercise.
She, however, raised concerns over absenteeism after observing that about 18 candidates were absent in one of the halls visited, urging relevant authorities to investigate the reasons behind the no-shows.
The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to improving educational infrastructure and enhancing teaching and learning conditions across the country.
The monitoring team visited Model Secondary School, Maitama; Government Science Technical College, Garki; and Federal Government Boys’ College, Garki, all in Abuja.
