Ahead of its 2020 exams, the National Examination Council (NECO) has sought the assistance of the men of the Department of State Security (DSS) to tackle exam malpractices among candidates.

The Chairman of NECO’s governing body, Abubakar Saddique disclosed this on Friday, January 31, 2020, when he visited the office of Yusuf Bichi, Director-General of the DSS, in Abuja with acting registrar of the council, Abubakar Gana.

Saddique said NECO’s collaboration with the DSS is one of the measures the exam body introduced to check malpractices before, during and after exams. 

He added that previous measures had minimal success due to lack of adequate security architecture.

He said, “Our council has put in place measures aimed at checking examination malpractice. Despite this, without adequate security architecture, such measures will not yield the desired results.

“Among the measures we introduced is the biometric capturing of candidates to check impersonation at examination centres.

“We, therefore, appeal to the personnel of DSS to strengthen their collaboration with NECO to prevent any form of malpractice before, during and after the conduct of the Council examination.”

According to Gana, aside the biometric capturing, NECO has procured additional 20 pick-up Hilux vans for examination logistics.

The acting registrar said NECO's partnership with DSS will go a long way in tackling challenges  arising from globalisation and use of technology.

He said, “The world is experiencing rapid changes resulting from rapid development, these changes revolve around two major phenomena of emerging technology and globalisation.

“While these two phenomena have their advantages, they also come with disadvantages, especially when abused, which result in the scourge of examination malpractice, which has assumed a global dimension.”

Reacting to the exam body’s partnership request, DSS Director-General, Bichi said the agency is committed to upholding transparency and credibility in exams conducted by NECO.