The Federal Government has lamented the low number of candidates seeking admission into Federal secondary schools across the country, Punch reports.

In a statement released by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Priscillia Ihuoma, it was revealed that over 9000 fewer registered for the common entrance in 2018 when compared to 2017.

The statement also revealed that only 28 students registered in Zamfara state, compared with 24,465 from Lagos.

The statement read:

Ahead of the 2018 National Common Entrance Examination for admission of candidates into the 104 Federal Government colleges on Saturday, April 14, the minister has expressed worry over low registration for the examination so far.

According to him, the report of a meeting of major stakeholders in the education sector said candidates registered in 2018 stood at 71,294 as against 80,421 that wrote the examination in 2017.

The report further shows three states with the highest number of pupils registered so far are: Lagos with 24,465 candidates, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with 7,699 and Rivers State with 4,810 candidates respectively. On the other hand, three states with extreme low registration are: Zamfara with only 28 candidates, Kebbi, 50 and Taraba, 95 candidates respectively.