The National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the June/July 2018 Senior Secondary Schools result, a statement issued on Monday in Minna said. The result, an improvement from last year’s however threw up an element of magic: 838 candidates were absent from the examinations, yet had answer scripts, NECO statement said.

The Acting Registrar, Alhaji Abubakar Gana, said in the statement that 1,041,536 candidates registered, while 1,032,729 candidates actually sat for the examination.

Gana said that 939,733 candidates representing 90.47 per cent scored five credits and above without English and Mathematics.

He also said that 875, 464 candidates, representing 84.77 per cent scored credits in English Language while 850,331 candidates representing 82.34 per cent, scored credits in mathematics.

Furthermore, he said that a total of 742,455 candidates representing 71.48 per cent scored five credits and above including English language and Mathematics.

Gana said that in 2017, 70.85 per cent of the candidates had five credits and above including in English and Mathematics as against 71.48 per cent in 2018, showing 0.63 per cent improved performance in the current result.

According to him, a total of 20,181 candidates were involved in examination malpractice — 3,269 candidates in mathematics and 2,177 candidates in English Language.

He decried the fact that 838 candidates were absent from the examinations, yet had answer scripts.