WAEC shifts ground on indebted states, to release results in 24hrs

The West African Examination Council on Wednesday announced that it would within 24 hours release results of candidates in the 13 states that are owning examination fees for the 2015 May/June Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

Speaking at a press conference, the Head of the Nigeria National Office of WAEC, Charles Eguridu said that the decision followed the intervention of the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum , Governor Abdulazeez Yari of Zamfara state, who, according to him, indicated that the Forum would positively resolve the matter as soon as possible.

“We have decided to hearken to the appeals and review our earlier position,” he said.

Mr. Eguridu said the continued withholding of the results will adversely affect the educational prospects of the candidates as the results are required by many candidates for admission purposes.

Mr. Eguridu however declined to mention the states that are indebted to the Council, insisting that mentioning the names would serve no purpose “as some states have already started making payments”.

“If I start to mention the names of states that are owing, I may not be fair to those that have paid and they are making attempts to pay,” he said.

Mr. Eguridu added that the mandate of WAEC is to assist in the development of education in Nigeria.

“We are not a profit-making organisation and we had to cry out because our creditors were on our neck. In the present circumstance, we want to announce that government is subsidising examination fees of candidates in Nigeria,” he said.

He further explained that WAEC does not charge economic fees for examination.

He said WAEC would not be fair not to extend hands of fellowship to state governments sponsoring their candidates.

Mr.Eguridu said the sponsorship of candidates for examination is something that happens all over the world.

Also speaking during the briefing, an Executive Director at the NGF Secretariat, AbduLlateef Shittu expressed optimism that the state would reciprocate the Council’s gesture by paying the outstanding debts.

WAEC had on Monday released the results of the 2015 May/June SSCE while withholding those of candidates from 13 states indebted to it, thus affecting over 200,000 candidates in those states.

(Premium Times)