• Tension mounts as non-indigenous candidates prepare for showdown with Niger State government for allegedly using their WASSCE fees to pay for indigenes
• We’re doing everything possible to pay the debt – Education Commissioner
From John Adams, Minna
Parents of about 15,000 non-indigenous candidates who sat for this year’s West Africa Examination Council (WAEC)’s June/July senior secondary school examinations are set for a possible showdown with the state government following its inability to remit their children’s exam fees to WAEC.
The decision by the state government to stop payment of such fees for non indigenes in the state, as was previously the case for some years under the administration of Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who started the practice, made them to source for the money and pay through their various schools.
But rather than remitting the money to the exam body on behalf of the candidates, the government used it to pay part of its debt to WAEC, to enable the indigenes participate in the exam, along with them.
A source close to WAEC said that the state government was indebted to the exam body to the tune of N734 million and that WAEC was on the verge of stopping the indigenous candidates from writing the June/July SSCE before the state government decided to use the N209, 250,000 contributed by the 15,000 non-indigenous candidates as part-payment for the 49,300 candidates from the state, both indigenes and non-indigenes, with the promise to pay the balance before the release of the results.
The candidates who have been waiting patiently for their results to enable them process their admission into institutions of higher learning were disappointed when they could not access them months after they were released.
The government’s decision to abolish payment of WAEC and NECO examinations fees forced parents of the over 15,000 non-indigenes to cough out N13, 950 each to pay for the WAEC fee amounting to over N209, 250,000 for this year’s June/July SSCE. This was remitted to WAEC through the state’s ministry of education.
Enquiries by The Sun Education Report shows that two months after the exam body released the results, the state government is yet to make the remaining part of payment amounting to N478, 485, 000 for the indigenous candidates and this has led to the seizure of the entire results, including the non-indigenes’ who paid for the exam.
The exam body, it was learnt, decided to withhold the results of the candidates because of the backlog of fees spanning two years, 2015 and 2016.
As you read this, parents of the affected candidates are planning to storm the state ministry of education and WAEC to protest their children’s inability to access their results, as a result of the development.
Benjamin Ugochukwu whose two children were affected, described the government’s action as appalling. “It is morally wrong for the government to have diverted the money for a different purpose,” he fumed in a chat with The Sun Education Report.
Apparently addressing the state government, he said: “You said our children should go and source for their examination fees and we didn’t complain, now you used the money as deposit for debt you owe, this is very wrong. I wonder if there is still morality in governance.”
Also reacting, Emmanuel Baba, a civil servant with one of the federal government agencies in the state, remarked that the “the action of the government amounts to fraud and wickedness. My daughter’s result is being withheld even though we had paid. She cannot process her admission now because of this development.”
A principal of one of the public schools in Minna, the state capital, told our correspondent that the exam fees paid by non-indigenes in his school were remitted to the state ministry of education, stressing that the government was expected to pay for indigenous candidates.
“The non-indigenes paid their examination fees and the examination officer of my school remitted the money to the ministry but I cannot say what happened after that because ours is to remit to the ministry,” he said.
Contacted, Hajiya Fatima Madugu, the State Commissioner for Education, while admitting the state government’s indebtedness to WAEC, noted that efforts were being made to clear the debt. She added that it was not peculiar to the state as many states are indebted to WAEC. But she could not deny or confirm the allegation abo ut misuse of exam fees of non-indigenes leading to non-release of their results.