By Wole Mosadomi
Minna—Results of candidates from
Niger State, who sat for the 2016 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination
June/ July National Examinations Council, NECO, have been withheld by the
Council due to failure of the state government to remit fees to the examination
body. Vanguard also gathered that results of candidates, who sat for the West
African Examinations Council, WAEC, were also being withheld for the same
reason. The unfortunate incident blew open when candidates from Niger State,
who had been trying to access their results online, could not, while their
counterparts from other states have been having no problems accessing their
results through the same means. Parents and their wards are now confused on how
to remedy the situation in order to meet up with this year’s admission to
higher institutions, especially if the results are not eventually released
before admission processes close for the new academic session.NECO “Honestly,
this is an unfortunate situation for the parents and our wards. It is sad that
we paid the Exam fee for our wards but unfortunately it is not remitted to the
relevant examination bodies. “We don’t know what is really going on, but we
will surely get to the root of the matter soon,” declared Alhaji Mohammed Alfa
in an interview. When contacted, the state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya
Fatima Madugu, confirmed that the state government had issues to settle with
NECO which invariably might have prompted the withholding of the last
examination results. The commissioner who however argued that current financial
challenges which may have prompted the state government to withhold monies from
parents to have their wards write the last WAEC and NECO SSCE is not peculiar
to Niger state alone but assured that the state will settle the debt wuth the
two examination bodiesafter the next FAAC meeting . Another parent who declined
to mention his name, said: “WAEC is also withholding results of candidates who
sat for the examination, as I am talking to you today, they have not been able
to access their results for same reason”. When contacted, the state
Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Fatima Madugu, confirmed that the state
government had issues to settle with NECO which invariably may have prompted
the withholding of the last examination results. The commissioner who however
argued that current financial challenges which may have prompted the state
government to withhold monies from parents to have their wards write the last
WAEC and NECO SSCE is not peculiar to Niger state alone but assured that the
state will settle the debt wuth the two examination bodiesafter the next FAAC
meeting . According to the commissioner, “About 5, 000 candidates wrote the
exams and we are indebted to NECO to the tune of about N200 million and hope
that by next week after the FAAC meeting we will meet with NECO and see how we
can solve the issues”. When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of NECO,
Sani Azeez said he is not aware of any seizure but that he will confirm the
next day. “Honestly, I am not aware of the debt and since no candidate or
parents have presented such a case to us, we want to assume that all is well
but the state Ministry of Education is in a better position to clarify the
issue,” he declared.
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