The National Examinations Council on Wednesday said it would sanction private and public schools, demanding above the Federal Government-approved fee of N9,850 as registration fee for the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination.

The council said it had written to the Commissioners of Education of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, informing them of the extortions going on in their schools against the directive of the Federal Government.

The NECO Acting Registrar, Dr Abubakar Gana, stated these in Abuja when the House of Representatives’ Committee on Basic Education and Services paid an oversight visit to the council.

The committee had raised an observation that some schools were demanding between N19,000 and N20,000 from candidates as a registration fee for SSCE.

Gana noted that the council was monitoring the activities of schools and would take serious actions on infractions and extortions of the NECO candidates.

The registrar said, “Not quite a month, we wrote to all the Commissioners of Education, highlighting that some schools, both public and private, are demanding extra fees from candidates. While the NECO fee itself is N9,850, some are even charging N20,000 in the name of administrative charges.

“Most of these schools are miracle centres and what they do there is that they perpetrate malpractice. Candidates who are lazy and don’t have confidence can go to the extent of paying N50,000 to register so they can have their way.

“We are on it. You also have a very critical role to play. We will make sure that in all our activities, we make you part of the monitoring team so you can see what is happening and at your own convenience, write a report to us.”

Gana also appealed to the National Assembly for the review of the NECO budget, lamenting that the exam body had not embarked on many capital projects due to low allocation to the agency.