Parents and candidates who sat for the 2020 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ekiti State are worried as the body has withheld the results of all candidates that sat for it in all public schools in the state.
The candidates and their parents got more furious with the reports flying around on social media that the results were withheld due to the state government’s indebtedness to WAEC.
It was being widely rumoured that the state is still owing several millions of naira being the free WAEC fee declared for all students in public schools, by Governor Kayode Fayemi, as part of the pivot of his free education policy.
Parents and wards, who besieged their respective schools to collect the results released on Monday by the regional examination body were disappointed, as they were told that they are yet to be released.
Tribune Online observed that the same disappointing scenario played out in some of the cybercafes where the candidates had gone to check their results in Ado-Ekiti metropolis and other towns in the state.
One of the parents who identified himself as Kola Ayoola said, “the government must have pity on these students who had to stay at home for months before the examination was written.
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“They must please look for a way to sort out whatever caused this unwholesome development because many of the candidates will use the results for university admission. We plead and beg that the government must do this fast.”
When contacted by our correspondent, the Head of Public Affairs, WAEC Nigeria, Demianus Ojijeogu denied knowledge of the withheld results of public schools in Ekiti State.
Ojijeogu, however, said the examination body only withheld results of candidates that were involved in examination malpractices, irregular examination number and failure of financial obligation to the body.
According to him, “People have been checking their results since Monday when it was released and I don’t know what is the issue with Ekiti State but all I can tell you is that there are three reasons why candidates will check results and will not see it.
“One is those candidates that committed errors during registration or during the examination, some didn’t even write their numbers; the second group are those whose results that have been withheld due to examination malpractices and the third group are those owing, those that did not fulfil their financial obligations to the council.”
But the Commissioner for Information, Mr Akin Omole debunked the allegation that the state indebtedness to WAEC necessitated the withholding of the results, adding that the results were put on hold due to computation mistakes made by WAEC and not because of debt.
He said, “The seizure was caused by the mistakes made in some of the ways the results were computed. The issue of Ekiti owing money doesn’t arise, it was a blatant lie. The government immediately contacted WAEC and it tendered apologies to the state.
“We appeal to our candidates and parents not to be ruffled by this, the government is handling the issue with all seriousness. Going by what WAEC said, the results will be released either on Thursday or Friday this week.”
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