Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The West African Examination Council(WAEC) has withheld results of candidates that sat for the 2020 examination in public schools in Ekiti State.
Parents and wards who besieged cybercafes to check and print their results were disappointed as they were told that the results were yet to be released.
On Monday, WAEC released the results across the country through a statement by its Registrar, Pateh Bah.
The 2020 edition of the examination was charecterized by anxiety and uncertainty as the schedules had to be shifted from April to August due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic that necessitated the closure of schools across the country.
In Ekiti, yesterday, parents and candidates got incensed by allegations that results were withheld due to government’s indebtedness to WAEC.
It was learnt that Governor Kayode Fayemi has been paying WAEC fees for students in public schools since assuming office in 2018, but there were rumours that he defaulted in the latest examination, forcing WAEC to withold the results.
One of the parents who spoke to Daily Sun said: “The government must have pity for these students who had to stay at home for months before the examination was written.
“They must please look for ways to sort out whatever caused this unwholesome development because many of the candidates will use the results for university admission.
We plead and beg that the government must do this fast.”
Commissioner for Information, Mr. Akin Omole, has however, clarified that results for the state were not witheld due to indebtedness to WAEC.
“The seizure was caused by mistakes made in some of the ways the results were computed.
The issue of Ekiti owing money doesn’t arise, it is a blatant lie,” he said.
Omole said the government immediately contacted WAEC on the issue and it tendered apologies to the state.
“We appeal to our candidates and parents not to be ruffled by this, the government is handling the issue with all seriousness. Going by what WAEC said, the results will be released either on Thursday or Friday this week.”
Meanwhile, government has uncovered the payment of N19.3 million monthly as salary for 362 ghost workers in its local government areas.
Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Prof. Adio Folayan,made this known while presenting a State Staff Verification Committee report to Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ado Ekiti yesterday.
The committee was set up by government to audit the local government staff towards identifying those who are genuine or fake workers.
Folayan said earlier preliminary findings, put the ghost workers at 652.