Ekiti tops 2016 NECO standings, improves from 2015 results

· As gov warns teachers against excessive loans

Ekiti State amassed a total of 96.485 points in the 2016 National Examinations Council (NECO) senior secondary school examination results released recently, to come tops among the states that participated in the examination.

The result was a marked improvement on the 10th position which the state stood at, after the results of the 2015 examinations were released while also bringing the state out of the 29th position it stood at in 2013 and 2014.

The state government, while reacting to the results, said it was as a result of several factors that were put into effect by Governor Ayodele Fayose when he became the governor in October 2014.

Speaking on behalf of the governor on the significance of the result, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, attributed the success of the state’s candidates to “the immense efforts Governor Fayose has put in supporting education in the state.”

According to him, “it is a heartwarming development because the administration has so far committed a total of N411.7 million to paying a total of 5,130 ‘core subject’ teachers under the new scheme.”

According to Adelusi, Fayose said the students’ feat was “an indication that effort of his administration to reposition education in the state was already yielding results,” and added that “the governor was particularly happy that no fewer than 37 per cent of the state’s candidates that sat for WAEC in 2016 had minimum of five credits including English and Mathematics while similar feat was recorded in 2015.”

Comparing the summary of analysis, breakdown as well as statistics of the state’s results in the last five years, precisely from 2012 to 2016, candidates performed significantly better in 2015 and 2016 than in 2012, 2013 and 2014 during which unimpressive performance was recorded.

Checks obtained from relevant government establishments showed that the state came 17th of the 36 states of the federation in the 2016 WAEC results just released recently, representing 53% success.

In the same vein, the state came out 17th in the 2015 WAEC results, representing 37 per cent success. The state however came 35th in 2014, 28th in 2013 and 22nd in 2012 respectively.

The percentage of failure recorded range from 75 per cent in 2014, 44.55 per cent in 2013 and 35.75 per cent in 2012.

Also, in the recent WAEC released for 2016, Ekiti placed 11th of the 36 states, with 8,954 out of its 21,333 candidates obtaining credits in five subjects and above including English Language and Mathematics.

He said the state presented a total of 13,690 candidates in 2015, while in 2016,a total of 21,333 candidates were presented, out of which 8,954 recorded more than five credit pass including English and Mathematics.

He said: “I recall that Mr Fayose was the first Ekiti state governor to organise an education summit in 2003 during his first tenure, the result of which was that the state ranked 7th in the country and the first in the South West then.”

“It is however unfortunate that successive administrations failed to follow the trend, hence the failures that greeted such wicked oversight.”

Meanwhile, Governor Fayose has advised teachers in the state against what he referred to as “too much loan” from the commercial banks.

The governor said this remained the best way to cushion the effect  the dwindling revenues of the state, culminating in delay in payment of salaries is having on them.

The governor promised to carry out reforms that would solve the perpetual problem of over-deduction of salary of workers through the biometric payment system introduced to block loopholes being used to siphon the state’s resources.

Fayose, who spoke during an interaction with teachers from public primary and secondary schools at Ola Oluwa Muslims’ Grammar School, Ado Ekiti.

Being part of the efforts to check discrepancies in salary payment, Fayose donated  400 laptop computers to Accounting Officers operating in the state and Local Government levels, to collate vouchers and show to teachers before onward transmission to the Accountant General’s office for payment.

The Governor warned that the teachers should not be oblivious of the fact that a popular loan called ‘sharp-sharp’ introduced by one of the commercial banks was fast becoming a burden rather than benefit.