Waec Withholds Results of 13 States

The West African Examination Council (WAEC), on Monday, released the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, withholding results of 13 states whose governments had defaulted in the payment of registration fees totaling N4.1 billion.

WAEC's Head of Nigeria Office, Charles Eguridu, while addressing newsmen at the Yaba office, however, refused to list the affected states, noting that the results of the affected will be made available only when the examination council uploads its website within the next 24 hours.


Only then, he continued, would the affected states be known.

He recalled that two weeks ago when the council alerted the nation on the challenges which facing it in Nigeria as a result of the indebtedness, and the adverse effects on its operations, few of the debtor-states responded by paying their debts fully or in part, while a few others made promises, indicating their willingness to pay as soon as possible.

He regretted that some others have not made any efforts to address the matter.

"The number of the states have been reduced to 13, some of the state have approached the council, even the Nigeria Governors Forum has stepped into the matter, some of the governors and their representatives have called and spoken with me on phone and have made promises to pay, under such condition I will not be able to mention the states.

"Results of those states would be released only if they pay, we are not going to take promissory notes with Government letter headed paper."

"After reviewing the situation, the council has decided that the results of Government-sponsored candidates of indebted states would be released if such states endeavour to produce Advance Payment Guarantees from reputable banks, so that the council will be assured that the fees will be paid.



"This decision is in appreciation of the general prevailing economic challenges in the country, and in order not to jeopardize the educational careers of the candidates of the indebted states," he said.

On reasons why he did not mention the affected states, Eguridu said he does not want politicians to hijack the issue because if he mentions any state, the opposition party in those states will make issue out of it.

However, Eguridu stated that out of the 1,593,442 candidates that sat the examination, only 616,370 candidates representing 38.68 per cent obtained credit in five subjects and above including English language and Mathematics.

Furthermore, he said the results of 118,101 candidates representing 7.41 per cent were being withheld in connection with various cases of examination malpractices, adding that the cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the Nigerian Examination Committee (NEC) of the council in due course for consideration.

According to Eguridu, candidates that sat the May/June 2015 WASSCE can check the details of their performances on the council's result website; www.waecdirect.org within the next 24 hours.

Five-Year Performance

Eguridu disclosed that the 2015 result represented a fair improvement of 529,425 representing 31.28 per cent that obtained five credits in English and Mathematics in the 2014 examination.

Candidates with five credits including English Language and Mathematics in 2010 were 333,071, representing 24.94 per cent out of the 1,351,557 that wrote the examinations.

A key statistic about this year's examinations when compared with that of 2011 and 2010 is represented as follows: Number of those who sat for the examinations: In 2012 (1,672,224 candidates, comprising 923,974 males and 748,250 females), in 2011 (1,540,250 candidates, consisting of 844,630 males and 695,620 females), in 2010 (1,351,557 candidates, comprising 739,664 males and 611,893 females.)

Number with six credits and above: 771,731 in 2012; 618,924 in 2011; and 534,841 in 2010. Those with five credits and above in 2012 were 952,156; 789,288 in 2011; and 677,007 in 2010.

Number with credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics: 649,156 candidates in 2012; compared with 471,474 in 2011 and only 337,071 in 2010.

Further analysis of the result showed that in 2013, a total candidates who obtained five credits in English and Mathematics were 639,760 representing 38.30 per cent.

However, using the 2012 performance of 38.81 as benchmark, the 2015 result of 38.68 represented a slight drop in the performance of candidates.

The implication of this is that the fair performances of the two periods could be harnessed to measure the standard as yardstick for improvement in candidates' performances in public examination.

One performance indicators for the improved performance during the 2012 and 2015 examination were the relative peace during the period in review.

The periods were marked by post-election peace in the country where candidates and examiners really had time to face the business of examination.



Though the HNO was silent on the performance on state basis apparently as a result of the indebtedness of 13 states to the examination body, a 2014 statistics of result released by WAEC showed that, Anambra, Abia and Edo states came tops as best performing states with 65.92 per cent, 58.52 per cent and 57.82 per cent respectively.

Students who scored five credits and above including; Maths and English in Anambra State totals 34,094, with 19,109 female students and 14,985 male students.

In Abia State, a total of 32,947 students made five credits and above including Maths and English, with 15,347 male students and 17,600 female students. In Bayelsa State, 37,242 students scored five credits and above including Maths and English. 18,479 were male students while 18,763 were female students.

Within the same period, eight out of the 36 states in Nigeria recorded a score less than 10%. These states include Adamawa, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi. Others are Gombe, Bauchi and Yobe.

However, as the nation expects a further breakdown of the statistics of performance for the 2015 examination when the outstanding results of the 13 debtor-states are released, stakeholders in the education sector are of the opinion that the aggregate results could be better.

Another performance indicator in the examination in the past five years is the desperation of candidates to pass the examination at all costs, as many candidates were found to be neck deep in examination malpractices.

Malpractice in 2013 recorded 112,865 representing 6.75 per cent, while the just released 2015 results also recorded the involvement of 118,101 candidates, representing 7.41 per cent whose results are being withheld in connection with various unethical reasons.