The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has revealed that N1.5billion was spent in conducting the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
This disclosure was made known in Abuja, by the Council’s Head in Nigeria, Patrick Areghan, at the 2021 budget defense, before the House of Representative Committee on Basic Education and Services.
Areghan, while giving a statistical breakdown analysis, stated that 1.5 million candidates sat for the examination, while 80,000 officials were engaged to mark the papers.
He also added that each candidate paid N13,900 as an examination fee, clarifying that only registration and administration fees came to the Council’s coffers.
The WAEC boss further explained that the council is not a revenue-generating body, but an assessment body that collects money to conduct examination for students, while saying that money collected from candidates, does not belong to WAEC but service providers.
He also hinted that WAEC is currently having a deficit of N7 billion, stressing that the council was not fully funded.
Areghan pleaded that the 2020 budget should be fully released to the council, as money collected from candidates was not enough to conduct the examinations.
However, he expressed his disappointment over the council’s generation drive, saying that the council should emulate the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board.
Recall that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) recently released the results of candidates who sat for the 2020 WASSCE.
The results of 215,149 candidates, representing 13.98 percent of the total number of candidates that sat for the examinations are being withheld in connection with various cases of examination malpractices.
