The Nigerian office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), has launched its digital certificate platform for candidates to generate certificates online and to recover burnt, lost, and damaged certificates.
Certificates produced from 1999 to date are eligible for
such recovery.
The platform, which involves mobile and web-based
applications, was unveiled Thursday at the WAEC International Office in Lagos.
According to WAEC’s Head of National Office for Nigeria,
Patrick Areghan, it will cost N7,500 for new and old candidates to assess the
platform, N3,500 to share and N5,000 for certificate confirmation to “eliminate
fraud and send fakers out of the market.”
He added that the platform will enable over 30 million
certificate holders to “access and share the original copies of their
certificates from anywhere in the world and those from 1970 to 1998 will be
attended to shortly.”
Developed by Botosoft Technologies, the platform can also be
used to recover candidates’ forgotten or lost examination numbers and “it has
many security doors that will make it impossible to hack.”
In his welcome address, Mr Areghan reiterated the importance
of technological advancement in the education sector, adding that WAEC is “evolving
to meet the demands of a changing world.”
“We have migrated from physical registration of candidates
to online registration; online verification of results and online result
printouts.
“The development of the new digital certificate platform is
in line with WAEC’s continuous record of meeting global needs by using
cutting-edge technology to improve candidates’ experiences as they seek to
continue their education,” he said.
Speaking further on the benefits of the platform, the
official said “The digital certificate platform gives certificate holders the
power to prevent unauthorized users from accessing their data.
“The platform is compliant with global best practices by
ensuring that the data of candidates are protected securely and cannot be
accessed by third parties without the consent of certificate owners.
“Individuals can now share their digital certificates from a
WAEC source instantly, regardless of the person’s location. This eliminates
institutional administration delays and the backlog of requests.”
Mr Areghan added that the platform also allows for bulk
confirmation of certificates at once and candidates can print their digital
certificates in high quality to have a physical copy.
The digital certificate platform initiated by Nigeria is the
first of its kind in the examination board since its establishment in 1952.
Mr Areghan explained that Nigeria did not develop it mainly
to curb examination malpractices but for technological advancement and quality
service delivery.
“We talk about the massive deployment of technology. It is
innovation for candidates to get their certificate 9o days after the release of
results and 45 days after completing the examination.
“Things are changing. Nigeria will continue to innovate and
without missing words, Nigeria is the largest member of WAEC, all other states
combined are not half of Nigeria,” he said.
He boasted that “Nigeria presents over 1.6 million
candidates every year, closely followed by Ghana with about 400,000 candidates.
So when we are talking about innovation, then Nigeria should lead the way.”
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