The National Examination Council (NECO), says it has captured about 300 public and private schools in its electronic verification exercise nationwide.

Head of Information Technology in NECO, Tayo Odukoya who disclosed this to newsmen yesterday in Port Harcourt during an examination monitoring exercise said that so far 60,000 students had been captured in its data capturing machines.

He stated that the exercise which was still ongoing at its various examination centres would cover all Federal Government Colleges, Universities Demonstration Secondary Schools, Military and Paramilitary Schools, Model Schools owned by the state governments and some private schools.

He said the target of the council was to cover about 10 schools in each state, adding that so far the exercise has been successful due to the efficiency of the machines.

Responding to questions over defeats in most of the DCM used by some other examination body, he said, “ours is not like those used by other bodies, our machines are very effective and there have been no hitches.”

Mr Odukoya explained that over the years, the electronic data capturing exercise has become imperative to screen and verify personal data of candidates to reduce duplication and fraud.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the monitoring exercise Head of information and publicity of NECO Mr. Ben Uzor emphasised that the body was restructuring and reforming to meet modern challenges in examination organisation and management, as he dispelled the insinuation that NECO was competing to survive.

Mr. Uzor saying, “NECO is not competing with any examination body. The National Examination Council has already established a mark because when we conduct our examinations people have to prove that they wrote the exams and by that they are going to pass and if they are going to pass, it is not going to be by playing pranks.”

He also dismissed claims that certificate offered by the exams body is valid within and outside the country “the authority of NECO as spelt out in our mission statement and our vision has to be reflected in what we do. If a candidate passes our exams…he or she is competent in every sense of the word.”

Meanwhile, the Zonal Co-ordinator of NECO in Rivers and Bayelsa States, Mr. Eti Ema disclosed that about 17,000 candidates registered for its May/June exams in Rivers State.