The permanent secretary said 76 pupils had the highest score of 203 while six pupils had the lowest score of one mark.
The National Examination Council (NECO) has released the result of the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) administered for pupils seeking admission to federal government-run colleges.
The result was presented by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mr Adejo said 69,829 sat the examination across the country on Saturday, 3 June, against the 72,865 registered pupils. "3,036 pupils were absent," Mr Adejo said.
He said 76 pupils had the highest score of 203 while six pupils had the lowest score of 1 mark.
Demography
He said there are 38,801 female candidates and 34,064 males.
He added that Lagos State had the highest number of candidates, with 18,644, and Taraba State the lowest, with 102.
"Sixty-nine thousand, eight hundred and twenty-nine (69,829) pupils sat for the examination. Three thousand and thirty-six (3,036) pupils were absent," he said.
Criteria for admission
Mr Adejo said the existing criteria for admission remain. According to him, it is 60 per cent pupils on Merit, 30 per cent of equality of state and 10 per cent on exigency.
"The Federal Ministry of Education will ensure that all admission processes are concluded timely and in line with the above criteria," he added.
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He said the government is doing its best to address the challenges facing unity schools across the country.
He said: "Although we are currently facing challenges of infrastructural development, feeding and teacher quality, I want to assure you that the Federal government is doing its best to ensure better conditions for effective teaching and learning in our schools."
He also appealed to Adamawa, Bayelsa and Kebbi states to increase the number of pupils registering for the examinations in their states.
"I would like to use this opportunity to appreciate the Governor of Zamfara State for the appreciable increase in registrants from 1,000+ to 2,091 and his current efforts to offset the debts owed NECO. I also want to urge Adamawa, Bayelsa and Kebbi to register more pupils for the NCEE," he said.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
