Withheld Results: Who is to blame – governors or WAEC?

Going down the memory lane, I can still remember how, with anxiety and ecstasy, I received the news that our West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results had been released after waiting for some months. I was tense and expectant until the moment I saw it with my widely-opened eyes; ditto my friends and every other student I knew. And I strongly believe that the anticipation that’s associated with the release of results of such magnitude as WASSCE still exists till date — it’s a natural occurrence.

And that’s why it would be very unfair to allow such results-associated anxiety stay longer than necessary in the minds of highly expectant WASSCE candidates. Unfortunately, this is already happening in some states across Nigeria. The Head of Nigerian office of West African Examination Council (WAEC), Mr Charles Eguridu, had on Monday (during a press conference), announced that the 2015 May/June WASSCE results of candidates who were sponsored by the thirteen (13) states that are indebted to WAEC have been withheld.

It’s totally unbelievable and embarrassing. The implication of this is that hundreds of thousands of innocent candidates who sat the exam do not have access to their results. In other words, they do not get to see the outcome of the exam they labored to write for weeks. By extension, these students can’t adequately prepare for the next phase of their lives. The students are obviously in a quagmire, which regrettably, they cannot save themselves from — they cannot pay for their individual registration fees and their state governments have not paid on their behalf. What psychological torture is more devastating than this?

It’s a National Shame

It’s very shameful that Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy — currently has about one-third of her states indebted to WAEC, an examination body which also operates in other West African countries like Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia. One may be quick to ask if the governors of these yet-to-be-named states know exactly the likely implications of their action and inaction on the public image of the country.

Should we therefore say that the education of young people is not a ‘big deal’ for many governors in this country? Or perhaps the “Free Education” that’s being run by these states is a huge burden on them. If it’s the former, that’s a real time bomb and if the latter is the case, it’s actually better to let the students pay their fees and prepare well for exams and have access to their results whenever they are released. That’s much better than giving them “Free Education”—and then subject them to unnecessary hardship.

How Will These Helpless Candidates Be Rescued?

In as much as I always believe in providing solutions, rather than complain or apportion blame, when things go wrong, it’s very crucial to state in this case, that governors of the affected states deserve to be blamed. The examination body had earlier announced, two weeks ago, that nineteen (19) states owed the agency about four billion naira (#4bn) and therefore vowed to withhold the results of their candidates. Six of the states yielded to the warning and therefore paid their debts (partially or fully) to avoid embarrassment.

The excuse of the other thirteen (13) governors had been that there are no funds to settle the debts. No matter how unfavorable the financial status of a state is, education, I believe, must remain a priority. Even if it involves putting a hold on certain projects or taking bank loans to make sure that the registration fees of these students are paid on time, so be it. I expect that in the next few days, the governors and the leadership of WAEC would reach a compromise so as to ensure that they do not prolong the agony of these students. For goodness sake, these are the future Nigerian leaders!

The governors of the affected states doubtless did not set their priorities right. If they did, hundreds of thousands of our young bright minds would not be stranded because their state governments couldn’t pay for their WASSCE registration fees. Education is the bedrock of national development and any nation that wants to grow must give this sector all the necessary attention. These candidates cannot afford to continue the waiting game. They must be rescued as soon as possible.

 


Kofoworola Ayodeji is a writer and transformational speaker that’s passionately involved in nation-buildingFollow him on Twitter and Facebook

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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