A total of 58,187 candidates on Saturday participated in the 2026 National Common Entrance Examination conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) for admission into Federal Government Colleges across Nigeria.

The Registrar of NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, disclosed this while briefing journalists after monitoring the examination in Abuja alongside the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad.

According to him, the figure shows a decline compared to 64,578 candidates who registered for the examination in 2025.

He added that female candidates made up the majority of this year’s registration, with over 31,000 girls compared to about 26,000 boys.

Wushishi attributed the trend to ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Education to promote girl-child education, noting that the results reflect positive progress in that direction.

On the conduct of the examination, he stated that reports from across the country indicated a largely smooth and incident-free exercise.

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Ahmad, who visited several examination centres in Abuja, also expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.

She noted that candidates were orderly, well supervised, and were able to begin their exams on time across the centres she inspected.

“We have been to three schools and I am happy with the conduct of the examination in all the centres visited. The students are orderly, well seated and the examination started on time,” she said.

She also confirmed that age requirements and registration guidelines were properly followed by candidates.

However, Ahmad raised concern over absenteeism recorded in some centres, including a case where about 18 candidates were absent, stressing the need to understand the cause.

She further commended the availability of facilities in the schools visited and reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening infrastructure for teaching and learning.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Taraba State recorded the lowest number of candidates with just 15 registrations, while Lagos State had the highest with 13,228 candidates.

During the monitoring exercise, the minister and NECO officials visited Model Secondary School, Maitama; Government Science Technical College, Garki; and Federal Government Boys’ College, Garki, all in Abuja.