The Registrar and Chief Executive of the National Examination Council (NECO), Professor Godswill Obioma, is dead.
The death of Obioma was announced in a statement on Tuesday by his son, Prince Godswill Obioma II, on behalf of the family.
The younger Obioma revealed that the NECO registrar died on Monday after a brief illness, debunking widespread speculation of an assassination attack.
Reports had emerged that gunmen suspected to be assassins killed the NECO registrar on Monday night when they stormed his residence in Minna, the Niger State capital.
His widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Obioma, was alleged to have told reporters that the assailants killed her husband and left without taking anything.
He graduated from Alvan Ikoku College of Education in Owerri, Imo State in 1982 and proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State in 1979.
Years later after he got his second degree, he became a professor of Mathematics Education and Evaluation, University of Jos, in December 1991.
The late NECO boss left the classroom (lecture hall) in 1994 and has served as a member of several Federal Government Committees on Education, one of which he was the Chairman of the Federal Ministry of Education Roadmap for the Development of the Education Sector.
He also coordinated both the reforms of school curricula and the review of the National Policy on Education in Nigeria.
Professor Obioma served as the President of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) Council from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as its Vice President representing the Africa region.
The 67-year old Obioma assumed office in May 2020, after taking over from ex-Registrar, Abubakar Gana. The ceremony was held at the NECO Head Office in Minna.
He was a Professor of Education Measurement and Evaluation and formerly Executive Secretary, Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council.
Obioma served as Ebonyi State Resident Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
