The Borno State government, on Wednesday, settled the fees for the 2022 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) amounting to over N329.8million.
The State’s Commissioner of Education, Engr. Lawan Abba Wakilbe, disclosed this while handing over the cheque for payment to the zonal deputy registrar, Maiduguri, WAEC, Mr. Zakari Yau, at the Ministry’s office in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Wakilbe added that the State government apart from this year’s payment was also paying an outstanding N34,349,650 for the year 2018, adding that government has now fully settled all its financial obligations to WAEC.
The Commissioner said, “This year, government is paying three hundred and twenty-nine million, eight hundred and five thousand, eight hundred naira (N 329,805,800) out of which two hundred and ninety-five million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, one hundred and fifty naira (N295,456,150) is for the settlement of State and Local Governments share which is a subsidy of 75 per cent of the Examination fees for 21,827 students studying in public schools across Borno State, alongside an outstanding amount of thirty-four million, three hundred and forty-nine thousand, six hundred and fifty naira (N34,349,650) for the year 2018.
“Government has now fully settled all its financial obligations to WAEC. Candidates who have sat for the examinations in public schools can commence checking their results online as from Friday, the 12th of August, 2022.
“In-line with the resettlement efforts of the Borno State Government, I wish to appeal to WAEC to consider extending the 2023 WASSCE to eight (8) Local Government Areas namely; Damboa, Gwoza, Ngala, Dikwa, Mafa, Monguno, Gubio and Mobbar. This is necessary because, students (Boys/Girls) from these locations face serious challenges coming and staying in Boarding Schools for at least three (3) Months in Maiduguri.
“The resultant effects of this include overcrowding in the host schools and its associated problems. We shall work together to put in place modalities for the conduct of the examinations in the eight (8) Local government areas.”
He commended stakeholders in the education sector in Chibok and Kaga for their perseverance, logistics and security support without which the conduct of the 2022 examinations in their various local government areas would not have been possible.
He also commended the stakeholders from Ngala for the care given to their students who happened to be the best-behaved students in the 2022 examinations within Maiduguri metropolis.
He appreciated all school principals, who have adhered to the examination quota and called on those who registered external candidates merely for profit-making to desist from doing so forthwith, adding that government will pay a total of N671,036,225 this year for the three examinations; WASSCE, SSCE, and NABTEB, which is a significant increase of 61.5 per cent as compared with the last year’s total examination bill of N412,394,510.
In his response, the zonal deputy Registrar, WAEC, Maiduguri, Zakari Yau, acknowledged receiving the money from Borno State government and promised that students’ results would be released within 48 hours.