WAEC withholds results over unpaid fees in Bayelsa

The continued withholding of the results of the 2010 May/June Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination in Bayelsa State by WAEC may scuttle the high education aspiration of the affected students in the state.

The May/June 2010 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination results of all public schools in the state is being withheld by the West African Examination Council WAEC due to the alleged failure of the state government to pay registration fees of its students.

Many worried parents in the capital city have decided to seek clarifications from media houses in the state rather than face officials at the Ministry of Education or school principals.

Branch Controller of the West African Examination Council in Bayelsa State, Mr. Femi Olusola, who confirmed the withholding of the WAEC results of all public schools in the state, blamed the development on debt owed.

According to him, parents and secondary school principals had besieged his office in the past few weeks to make enquires about the delayed results.

Though he did not give the excat amount involved, but informed sources told Vanguard that the Bayelsa State government is owing WAEC about N162milion as registration fees for the May/June examination.

“We usually conduct the exam on credit, but they pay before the results are released. If we continue to conduct exams on credit we might become insolvent,” Olusola said adding that the results would not be released until the government defrays the debt.

“I will appeal to the government to pay because a whole generation of students is affected and they will need the results for admission into universities soon,” he said.

It was however learnt that the government had approved fund for the registration fees for last year but that the ministry was yet to get the cash to pay WAEC.

Though the Commissioner for Education, Chief Josephine Izonbodor could not be reached as at press time but a ministry official who pleaded anonymity said about 15,000 students in public schools were affected. Reacting to the development, the Action Congress Nigeria described the situation as pathetic.

ACN Chairman, Mr. Miriki Ebikibina, said a government that could spend public money on the vanity of peace day celebration had denied its youth access to their examination results.

“It is not just the height of insensitivity of government to the plight of its students, but a deliberate denial of the rights of admission to tertiary institutions,” the ACN lamented.

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