Minna – The National Examination Council (NECO) on Friday said that it has introduced biometric data capturing machines in a bid to curb impersonation during its Senior School Certificate Examinations.

Prof. Promise Okpala, Registrar of NECO, made the announcement at an interactive session with newsmen in Minna, saying that “impersonation is a type of malpractice that is becoming rampant, especially during the November/December external candidates.

“More recently, the use of biometric data capturing/validation has been employed as a veritable means of curbing impersonation,” he said.

Okpala explained that sensitive examination materials were now stored in one place in each state unlike in the past when they were stored in many locations within the state, thereby exposing them to leakages.

Okpala said that the council had also involved the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and lecturers of tertiary institutions in the country to combat examination malpractice through effective monitoring of all the council’s examinations.

“With these measures in place, it is not surprising that in June 2011, three candidates were convicted by the Federal High Court in Calabar for impersonation,” he said.

He said that the council had upgraded its ICT division to strengthen its scoring and data capturing capacity, “with the result that NECO has the best scanners in the country today”.

The registrar noted that since 2007 the council had successfully conducted its June/July school-based and November/December external-based SSCE and released results within 80 days.

“The Council has improved on this record since 2009 by consistently releasing its results within 60 days,” he said, noting that the council was committed to ensuring that examination malpractice was reduced to the barest minimum or completely eradicated.

“The measures listed above have ensured that NECO results are not only reliable and credible but have met international standards,” he stated. (NAN)