.NECO registrar receives recognition
Laleye Dipo in Minna
Nigeria’s educational assessment has received international recognition with the country granted the rights to host the 2027 Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) conference in Abuja.
This was as the Registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO), Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, has been elected the Vice President of the continental body.
The decisions were endorsed by the AEAA General Assembly at its just concluded 42nd Conference held in Arusha, Tanzania, an indication of the growing recognition of Nigeria’s influence in educational assessment with the demands of digital transformation and the integration of artificial intelligence in Testing and Certification.
Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, NECO, Alhaji Azeez Sani, said in a statement in Minna, the Niger State capital, that “The latest developments in Arusha, Tanzania, further strengthens Nigeria’s standing within Africa’s educational assessment community and underscore its ambition to become a leading voice in the continent’s evolving examination landscape.”
Sani added that the hosting of the continental conference in Nigeria, is expected to provide a platform for the country to showcase ongoing reforms in educational assessments at the forum that will attract policymakers, researchers, examination administrators and education experts from across Africa.
He added that Professor Wushishi’s elevation follows his service on the AEAA Executive Council as representative of the West African sub-region adding that since assuming office as NECO Registrar in 2021, he has overseen a series of reforms aimed at modernising examination administration, expanding the council’s technological infrastructure and broadening its international reach.
NECO examinations under Wushishi, according to Sani, are now conducted in eight foreign countries, extending the council’s footprints beyond Nigeria’s borders.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu early this year reappointed Wushishi for a second term in office, widely seen as an endorsement of his technological and administrative reforms.