19 States Yet To Pay Students Registration Fees; Results May Be Withheld

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has raised the alarm over some states’ delay in paying the registration fees of over N4 billion they owe the council for the May/June 2014 and 2015 Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The Head of National Office (HNO), Mr. Charles Eguridu, who briefed journalists in Lagos yesterday, said the poor response of debtor states is threatening the council’s smooth operation, as it is finding it difficult to meet its financial obligations, particularly to supervisors, examiners and service providers.

He said though the decision of states to pay their students’ registration fees was commendable as it had afforded many indigent students the opportunity to sit for the examination and relieved many parents of the financial burden, it has come at a price to the council.

Eguridu, who refrained from naming the debtor states said: “I will like to plead that we should give these states the benefit of the doubt, in the sense that we just had an election and governors have just been sworn in… We have written to the governors of the affected states over six weeks ago, we have received responses from just one of the states, I will like to believe that our political leaders are concerned about the plight of their candidates so I will want to crave your indulgence to withhold the names of the states involved until when the results are to be released; the day of the release of the results I am prepared to let you know the names of the states that are still owing us.”

Asked why WAEC allows states to register candidates on credit, he said, “as an examining board we are not a profit making organisation, our service is to humanity and to our fatherland. When the states requested to be granted this facility, the least we were expected to do was to say no; we allowed them because over the years it has been a practice for states-sponsored candidates to be registered on credit and the states usually meet the financial obligation to WAEC.

“I want to believe that we are all familiar with the current difficulties the various governments are experiencing in the payment of salaries and meeting their financial obligations in other areas, it is not unlikely that this has rubbed-off on WAEC, but we are crying out because we don’t have any other place to go to seek or source for money than to appeal to the debtor states to meet their financial obligation to the council.”