By Njadvara MUSA, Maiduguri
The Borno State Government has paid N329.81 million fees to the West African Seniour Secondary Scholl Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) for 21, 827 students write 2022 final examinations in public schools.
Presenting the cheques, yesterday (Wednesday), in Maiduguri, the Commissioner of Education, Lawan Wakilbe, said that Governor Babagana Zulum has conveyed his gratitude to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for continuous support of students write their examinations seamlessly each year.”
In breakdown of paid fees, he said: “Out of N329.81 million, N295.46 million is for the settlement of State and Local Governments payments with a subsidy of 75% of examination fees for students in public schools across the state.”
He noted that there is an outstanding N34.35 million examination fees for 2018.
“Government has now fully settled all its financial obligations to WAEC,” he said.
According to him, candidates that sat for the examinations in Public Schools can commence checking their results online as from Friday, August 12, 2022.
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Lawan also appealed to WAEC to consider extending the 2023 WASSCE to Damboa, Gwoza, Ngala, Dikwa, Mafa, Monguno, Gubio and Mobbar Local Councils.
He lamented that students face challenges of staying in boarding schools for three months in Maiduguri, the state capital.
He attributed the challenges in boarding schools to overcrowding and related problems of the host public schools.
He commended education stakeholders in Chibok and Kaga councils for their logistics and security support conduct the 2022 national examinations.
He commended students from Ngala Council for the best-behaviours in this year’s examinations conducted in Maiduguri.
According to him, the writing of three examinations by WASSCE, Seniour Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE) and NABTEB are settled with N671.04 million.
He said that there an increase of 61.5 percent over last year’s examinations fees of N412.4 million.
He reiterated that the state government is not against any genuine ex-students who failed in previous examinations from re-sitting with WAEC.
Continuing, he added: “We are against outsiders with no records or history whatsoever in the various institutions,” warning that registering external candidates with no school records or attendance is not only illegal but the root cause of problems associated with vetting students’ records.
According to him, the problems, include rising cases of indiscipline, corruption and malpractices in public schools.
Besides, he added: “You should scrutinize the registration process by allowing genuine students with continuous assessment, attendance and biometric capture records for SS1 and SS2.
He lamented the heavy financial burden on the State government with limited scarce resources and personnel.
Responding, the Maiduguri WAEC’s Zonal Deputy Registrar, Zakari Ya’u acknowledged the receipt of N329.81 million examination fees.
He pledged that results of the examinations will be released within 48 hours. “We respect the Commissioner of Education a lot for not interfering but facilitating WAEC’s functions,” he said.
