The minister noted that 60 per cent of admissions will be based on merit while 30 per cent will be allocated for equality of states.
The National Examination Council (NECO) has released the results of the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) administered for pupils seeking admission to federal government colleges.
The Minister of State for Education, Tanko Sununu, disclosed this to journalists at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr Sununu said 71,291 candidates registered for the 2024 NCEE while 66,931 candidates sat for the examinations in centres across Nigeria, Benin Republic and Togo. He said 4,360 were absent.
The examination is administered annually to Nigerian children seeking admission into any of the 115 federal government colleges, otherwise known as unity colleges, spread across the country.
"This year's edition of the examination was written on Saturday 1st June, in Nigeria, as well as Benin Republic and Togo," the minister added.
Highest scores
According to Mr Sununu, the candidates with the highest scores had 203 of the maximum obtainable score of 210.
Thirteen candidates had the lowest score of 1, he said.
Malpractice
This year, he noted, the examination recorded 'an unprecedented' number of candidates involved in malpractice.
According to him, 52 candidates were involved in examination malpractice. While two were caught in Lagos State, the remaining 50 candidates were caught in Rivers State.
Criteria for admission
The minister noted that 60 per cent of admissions will be based on merit while 30 per cent will be allocated for equality of states.
He added that the remaining 10 per cent will be based on exigency.
The minister said: "Now that the results have been released, the Senior Secondary Education Department should ensure that all admission processes are concluded timely and in line with the above criteria.
"As you are all aware, it is common knowledge that our Federal Unity Colleges have become the first port of call for most parents in the country. I want to assure all Nigerian parents that the government will continue to do its best to improve on infrastructural development, feeding and teacher quality for effective teaching and learning in our colleges."
