The West African Examination Council, WAEC, has agreed to release all withheld results for the examinations conducted on secondary school students across Zamfara State.
A statement issued by Gover Dauda Lawal’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Suleiman Idris, said the agreement was reached on Monday, following a meeting between the governor and top management of the examination body in Abuja.
Mr Idris said the regional examination body withheld the results over the non-payment of N1.4 billion examination fees owed by previous administrations in the state.
He, however, said the current administration had agreed on repayment plans with the examination body, saying that all withheld results would be released before the end of February 2024.
The statement added that the students would also be able to register and sit for the 2024 senior school certificate examination, SSCE.
He said: “As part of the present administration’s determined effort to ensure that the state of emergency declared in education is seriously addressed, Governor Dauda Lawal hosted the leadership of the WAEC in his Abuja office.
“The Governor, who was in the company of the honorable commissioner of education, science, and technology, Mallam Wadatau Madawaki, discussed with the WAEC officials the issue of outstanding debt owed by the Zamfara state on examinations conducted under the previous administrations.
“The nonpayment of the WAEC fees for many years led to the non-release of the West African Examination results for the affected students. This, by extension, has caused many students not to participate in the mandatory National Youth Service due to non-collection of their results.
“At the end of the meeting, the examination body agreed to release the previous results and allow Zamfara students to participate in the 2024 WAEC examinations.
“Both the state government and WAEC agreed on a payment plan of backlog debt, and the withheld results will be released before the end of this month.”
According to him, the delegation of the WAEC was led by the chairman of the Administrative and Finance Committee of WAEC Nigeria, Binta Abdulkadir, and the head of the National Office of WAEC Nigeria, Dr. Amos J. Dangut.
Also present at the meeting are senior officials of WAEC Nigeria, including Ambrose Okelezo, the zonal coordinator; Victor C. Odu, the director of finance; and Segun U. Jerumeh, the deputy director.
