70 NECO staff lose jobs over certificate forgery

About 70 staff members of the National Examinations Council (NECO) have been dismissed from its services over certificate forgery.

These dismissals are sequel to a report submitted by a Management Committee constituted to verify certificate of staff, a statement by the Head, Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani revealed.

“The certificate Verification Committee carried out its assignment diligently by inviting all staff with questionable credentials to appear before it, during which some staff actually attested that their certificates were fake,” he said.

He added that the Committee also contacted the Schools and Institutions the affected staff claimed to have attended and the Schools and Institutions denied having certificated them.

While noting that on completion of their assignment, the Committee submitted its findings to NECO Management which also forwarded same to NECO Governing Board, he said at its 17th Extra- ordinary meeting, the Governing Board vetted the report and approved dismissal of the affected staff.

“The Council under the leadership of the Acting Registrar/Chief Executive, Mr Abubakar Gana has zero tolerance for corruption and is poised to sanitise the system as espoused by President Muhammadu Buhari led administration,” he said.

He however said the dismissal of the 70 staff is the first phase in the series of the on-going staff certificate verification exercise in the Council.