Educationists have condemned some state governments’ failure to pay their debts to the West African Examination Council.

The experts expressed dissatisfaction that the states’ indebtedness to WAEC had resulted in an eventual withholding of the 2023 WASSCE results of over 130,000 candidates from eight states by the council.

They said the indebtedness would adversely affect the candidates from further pursuing their tertiary education.

The Head of WAEC Nigeria Office, Patrick Areghan, had said that out of the 1,621,884 candidates who registered for 2023 WASSCE from 20,867 secondary schools across the country, 1,613,733 sat for the exam while the results of over 130,000 candidates were withheld and would not be released until the state governments pay up their fees.

Areghan revealed that eight states had yet to pay up, citing Zamfara and Niger as the major states indebted to the council.

He told Saturday PUNCH that although the Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, put the amount owed the examination council at N1.6bn, adding that Niger State owed “hundreds of millions” of naira.

The WAEC boss said, “Even the Governor of Zamfara said that they owe N1.6bn. The Niger State Government owes us hundreds of millions (of naira). I can’t give you the specific figure unless they come out and the governor has come out. Zamfara State even though they owe us, I can say they are a very nice state. They don’t shy away from the facts.

“They have never said anything negative about us. Before the last exam, they were here in their numbers, commissioners, and heads of exams, with a message from the then governor, saying they still wanted to write the exam, they still wanted credit facilities.

“We are hopeful and praying that the new governor who fully understands will ensure that the debt is paid. For Niger states, I don’t know.”

Reacting to the matter, one of the educationists, a Professor of Educational Management, Joseph Ayodele, told Saturday PUNCH that withholding candidates’ results simply meant that the candidates would have to suffer for the sin they never committed as some of them seeking admission for the next academic session might be deprived of such an opportunity.

He said the indebtedness might be a result of bureaucratic bottlenecks in the process of payment, adding that the situation could have been curtailed if the examination council had duly sustained initial interactions with the defaulting states earlier, even before the results were officially released.

The don further urged state governments to continue to assist candidates for the payment of WAEC fees to the best of their capacities, noting that such is a form of economic and human empowerment, especially to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor masses.

“The state governments that have promised to pay WAEC fee have not done the wrong thing. It is a way to alleviate the suffering of the people, to assist people to be able to acquire the requirements to proceed with their education.

“I think the first thing WAEC should have done is to interact with such state governments to find out why and to see how this promise can be fulfilled instead of withholding the results because the candidates will actually suffer for it.”

On his part, another educationist, Dele Olateju, decried the situation, saying the results which were major determinants of the candidates’ academic future should not be toyed with by the defaulting state governments.

He stated that it was an act of irresponsibility for governors to politicise the funding of education, urging the Federal Government to intervene in the matter.

According to him, the Federal Government should issue bailouts to the states after which such funds will be deducted from their next allocations. - PUNCH