WAEC debts: We’re not owing, Ekiti govt allays candidates’ fears

FEARS being expressed by some candidates in Ekiti State, who sat for the last examinations by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), have been allayed by the state government, which said on Saturday, that it was not indebted to the examinations body.

Some candidates had expressed fears on Saturday when Sunday Tribune sought their opinion on the threat to withhold results of candidates of debtor-states, that they were unsure of what would happen “since WAEC did not name the affected states.”

A candidate in the May/June 2015 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), Adedipe Omolola, said “we know that our state, Ekiti is owing banks and the Capital Market and we are afraid that our results might not be released because we are not sure if our state is among those indebted to WAEC.”


But the state government allayed their fears on Saturday, when it announced that “Ekiti is not indebted to WAEC.”

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Ayo Fayose, Mr Idowu Adelusi, who reacted to the students’ fears said, “despite the financial challenges facing the state, the government promptly paid the examination fees of its students that sat for the May/June 2015 West African Examinations Council Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.”

Adelusi said: “The state paid a total of N182 million to WAEC for the purpose, thereby allowing students in the state’s public secondary schools to write the examination without any cost to their parents and guardians.”

Adelusi also said “in addition to the payments to WAEC, the state government paid for extra classes and lessons for the students so that they can do well in the examinations.”

He expressed optimism that “when the results are out, our candidates will do well,” and added that “you know that education is the major industry in our state and we cannot afford to toy with that.”

Adelusi explained that “the Ayo Fayose-led administration is determined to restore the lost glory of Ekiti State in that sector and we are taking all practical steps to improve on the past performance of the state in public examinations.”

He said, among other reasons, “the step is also to complement government’s effort when it organised special coaching classes for students preparing to write JAMB examination earlier in the year,” saying “teachers are also motivated with various allowances given them and the prompt payment of salaries.”

He said during the first term of Governor Fayose, “the state moved up in students’ performance in WAEC and NECO exams.”