NECO dismisses 19 workers over certificate forgery

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has dismissed 19 of its workers for forging their certificates.

Their dismissal was approved by the Governing Board of NECO after vetting the report of a Staff Certificate Verification Committee setup by the council at its 52nd regular meeting.

The Head, Information and Public Relations Division of NECO, Azeez Sani, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The statement said the committee wrote the institutions some of the affected workers claimed to have attended and the institutions denied issuing them certificates.

It reads: “The Governing Board of the National Examinations Council (NECO) has approved the dismissal of 19 staff from her service for certificate forgery.

“A Staff Certificate Verification Committee constituted by the Management carried out its assignment diligently by inviting some staff with questionable credentials to appear before it, during which the affected staff attested that their certificates were forged.

“The committee also contacted the Schools and Institutions which the affected staff claimed to have attended and the Schools and Institutions denied having certificated them.

“At its 52nd Regular meeting, the Governing Board of the Council vetted the report of the Certificate Verification Committee and approved the dismissal of the affected staff.

“It would be recalled that the Governing Board had at its 17th Extra Ordinary meeting in November, 2019, also approved the dismissal of 70 staff for Certificate forgery.”

It added that the certificate verification exercise which is on-going is aimed at sanitising the system.