The Zamfara State Government has given an insight into why the state cannot immediately pay the N1.6 billion debt owed to the West African Examinations Council, blaming it on past administration.
This was made known in an interview on Tuesday, by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, Mustapha Kaura, while confirming that the state is owing WAEC about N1.6 billion.
WAEC had on Monday announced that the government of eight states in Nigeria have unpaid debts from registration fees of candidates they willingly sponsored to take part in its examination over some years.
The Head of Nigeria’s Office of WAEC, Patrick Areghan, during a press conference to announce the release of the results of the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates, said that candidates from eight states owing the examination body will not be able to access their results until the states pay up.
Though Mr Areghan did not reveal the identities of all the indebted states, he noted that “Zamfara and Niger states are the highest debtors.”
Mr Kaura explained that the debt has accumulated over time from the immediate past administration of former Governor Bello Matawalle and that of his predecessor, Abdulazeez Yari.
He said, “WAEC has continued to grant credit to some very credit-worthy and reliable states who pay the registration fee of their candidates.
“Unfortunately, some states have been owing large sums of money for years now and have simply refused to pay after the needed services had been rendered by WAEC, thus denying us the needed funds to carry out our activities.”
Mr Kaura, however said the government is determined to pay the debt either in full or instalmentally but that the governor is waiting to get approval once his cabinet is formed.
He said, “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.”
Attributing the debt to the failure of past administration, Mr Kaura said the state’s huge debt to WAEC is a result of “the maladministration of the past administration.”
He said the previous administrations failed to pay fees for indigents of Zamfara.
Meanwhile, Mr Kaura said his principal, Mr Lawal, had intervened and that about 18,000 Zamfara indigents were allowed to register for WAEC and NECO this year.
“I am happy to inform you that the present administration of Dauda Lawal has strictly intervened and persuaded NECO and WAEC. This year 2023, the management of WAEC and NECO allowed the Zamafara indigent students to sit the 2023 WAEC and NECO examinations,” he said.
Apart from the states owing, the examination body also noted that out of a total of 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, the results of 262,803 candidates are being withheld “due to reports of cases of examination malpractice.”
This is as Mr Areghan announced an improvement in pass rate by candidates as a total of 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38 per cent, obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects with or without English Language or Mathematics.
Also, 1,287,920 candidates, representing 79.81 per cent of the total candidates, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.
Mr Areghan said out of the candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, only the results of 1,476,565 candidates, representing 91.5 per cent have been fully processed and released while 137,168 candidates, representing 8.5 per cent have a few of their subjects still being processed.
He stressed that the delay is due to some “shortcomings, nonchalant, lethargy, incomplete CASS upload, disobedience of rubrics, etc associated with the schools and candidates concerned.”
