President Buhari Fires Suspended NECO Registrar, Dismisses Four Others

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the termination of the appointment of Prof Charles Uwakwe as the Registrar and Chief Executive of the National Examinations Council.

This was contained in a letter dated May 11 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, on behalf of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Four members of the Management were also dismissed for various offenses bordering on financial mismanagement.

Uwakwe has been on suspension since 2018 and Mr Abubakar Gana has been the acting Registrar of the exam body since then.

Uwakwe was accused of violating the Public Procurement Act (2007) and pursuant to PSR 030402 and Part 1 schedule 4 (i) of the NECO Establishment Act. It was alleged that Uwakwe and some top officials of the council allegedly awarded contracts in the council to the tune of N25billion without following due process.

NECO, in a release on Wednesday by its Head of Information and Public Relations Division, Mr. Azeez Sani, confirmed that the suspended registrar had been relieved of his appointment by the President, while four members of the management had also been dismissed.

The former Registrar was also directed to hand over all the government property in his custody to the acting Registrar, Mr. Gana.