The National Examinations Council has firmly rejected claims that Government Secondary School, Olowa, in Dekina local government area of Kogi State operates as a miracle examination centre, calling the allegation false and inconsistent with official records, after Tuesday’s abduction of five people connected to the school during the ongoing 2026 Senior School Certificate Examination.
While expressing sympathy for the victims and commending the Kogi State Government and security agencies for securing the rescue of four of the five abductees, NECO pushed back on comments reportedly made by Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications Kingsley Fanwo describing the school in those terms. In a statement from Acting Director of Information and Public Relations Azeez Sani, the council said Government Secondary School, Olowa, is a state owned public institution more than 40 years old that has consistently presented candidates for the NECO Senior School Certificate Examination since 2000. NECO clarified that the school’s principal, Elder Daniel Iyamaa, among those abducted, is a Grade Level 17 officer in the Kogi State Civil Service, while the kidnapped examination supervisor, Solomon Audu, is a Grade Level 12 state government officer posted to Community Secondary School, Effin, and dismissed any suggestion that the candidates involved were irregular entrants, confirming all 28 candidates the school registered for the 2026 exam are legitimately enrolled students. To reinforce that record, the council released the school’s SSCE enrolment figures over the past five years, showing 21 candidates in 2021, 20 in 2022, 28 in 2023, 40 in 2024 and 20 in 2025, and noted the Kogi State Government also paid examination fees for 51 students from the school for the recently concluded 2026 WASSCE. NECO disclosed that before this year’s SSCE began, its Kogi State Coordinator had already written to security agencies requesting enhanced protection for examination centres across the state, given the prevailing security challenges.
