By Haruna Salami
The member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, has hailed the appointment of Professor Goodwill Obioma as Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO).
He said in a statement on Monday, that Prof. Obioma’s appointment was “a square peg in a square hole”, saying it was one of the best appointments made by President Buhari, owing to the wealth of experience of the appointee.
“As far as executive appointments go, none has been as spot on as His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Prof. Godswill Obioma as Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO.
“This appointment comes at a time when NECO confronts several challenges seeking to undermine its operations, including the tasks of repairing the integrity of the examination body, solving infrastructural and technological deficits as well as fulfilling expectations to improve the turnaround time of examination results”, Rep. Kalu said.
The Spokesman of the House of Representatives noted that, “working as a key player in several government committees and panels on education development in the country, Professor Obioma has contributed immensely in formulating education policies in Nigeria in the last two decades with a record of achievements too vast to enumerate”.
Aside being the immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Obioma had also made great impacts in education research and other notable agencies, both local and foreign.
“He has served as the Chairman of Nigeria Education Roadmap of the Federal Ministry of Education and Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.
“Internationally, he has consulted for UNESCO, UNDP, WORLD BANK, DFID and UNICEF, having served in various delegate and leadership roles including President of UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE); Member, International Experts Meeting on Key Curricular and Learning Issues in the Post 2015 Education and Development Agenda held in Geneva; and Member Nigerian Delegation to the adoption of the SDG in Education in 2014 in Nakoya Japan”, Rep. Kalu noted.
His appointment was contained in a statement issued in Minna by the NECO Head, Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani.
