State govts, clear WAEC fees

Penultimate Monday, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the results of candidates who sat for the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). But with it came the alarming announcement that students from eight states of the federation could not access their results as they were withheld over the indebtedness of examination fees for state government-sponsored candidates.

The Head of WAEC National Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, while expressing confidence that some of the affected states would soon pay up, listed Zamfara and Niger as the highest debtors. He did not name the other remaining states.

Areghan added: “Again, Zamfara did not present any candidate for this year’s WASSCE. I need to restate that the results of candidates sponsored by states indebted to the council will not be released now until they pay up. We appeal to them to do so to enable the affected schools/candidates to access their results.”

This is a very unfortunate development which has to stop. What is unsettling is that this is not the first time that students of public secondary schools in Zamfara failed to take the WASSCE simply because WAEC refused to accept their candidates over accumulated debt owed over the years. Last year, Zamfara, along with Sokoto, did not present any students of public secondary schools for the May/June exams. Sokoto took action, but Zamfara did not.

It is a national embarrassment because this development has been prevalent such that in 2015, 19 states owed entry fees for their sponsored candidates. Then, about 10 states owed WAEC about N3 billion, which forced it to resort to bank loans for some of its basic functions.

Of all the states, only Zamfara State government has come forward to admit owing about N1.6 billion with Mustapha Kaura, spokesman to Governor Dauda Lawal, explaining that the debt was accumulated over time from the immediate past administration of former governor and minister-designate, Bello Matawalle and that of his predecessor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari. Kaura said the government was committed to paying the debt either in full or instalmentally, but that the governor was waiting to get approval once his cabinet is formed as “the N1.6bn is beyond the approval of the governor unilaterally. He has to seek approval from the state executive council.

“The WAEC debt will be a front-line issue to be presented before the cabinet and payment will be made so that the results of students will be released to pursue higher education.”

The persistent owing of WAEC fees for state government-sponsored candidates brings to the fore the lackadaisical attitude of government officials toward the very citizens they ought to look after their welfare. This is another example of how the future of young people is being toyed with and held hostage. Otherwise, how could government officials, who are also parents, sleep well when students in all public secondary schools fail to register for WAEC?

Yet, in all these states, there exist functional ministries of education. Clearly, their officials are showcasing dereliction of duty.

It is also a shame that of all the member states of WAEC – Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia – it is only Nigeria that has a history of owing the regional examination body. And this systematic malaise has put on hold the future of the students who gained admission into tertiary institutions but could not proceed due to lack of corresponding results to process their admissions.

In the first place, no one forced the governments of the affected states to take on this role. In fact, we have had cause on this page to call on governors to relinquish this duty and allow parents to pay fees for their children. The call was to avoid these kinds of cases.

Defaulting on such specific commitments entered on behalf of the citizens is punishment and not only does it jeopardize the future of the youths, it lowers the respect of the governed for the governors.

We call on all the states involved to pay up the debt and review the policy going forward. There is no need to make statements that will not be fulfilled, just to score political points, in some instances.  We cannot afford to play politics with the future of children. WAEC should go beyond naming Zamfara and Niger states as leading debtors. It should name the others as well.

The fact that the debtor states are mainly from the educationally disadvantaged areas of the country calls for sober reflection. This is because they should be leading the vanguard for the education of the next generation.

This is the time to show empathy and compassion for the plight of the students. Qualitative education must be given top priority if the future of the youths is to be assured.