Withholding WAEC Results, An Avoidable Embarrassment –Ogagifo

FORMER Permanent Secretary of Delta State Ministry of Education, Chief (Sir) Eseoghene Peter Ogagifo has expressed worries over the withholding of the 2015 May/June West African Examination Council (WAEC) results of government sponsored candidates in 13 states of the country, saying that the development was an avoidable embarrassment to the governments of the affected states.

Ogagifo opined that the huge debt profile inherited by the new administration of many states might have been the cause of the inability of the affected States to offset their bills, observing, however, that the affected state governments ought to have embraced honesty by informing the candidates to seek alternative means of payment instead of having their results withheld for a yet to be ascertained duration.

WAEC, on August 10, had announced, through its Head of National Office, Dr Charles Eguridu, that it had withheld the results of government sponsored candidates in 13 states over an alleged nonpayment of candidates’ registration fees for the 2015 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Reacting to the development, the retired Permanent Secretary, who fielded questions from journalists at his Asaba residence, reasoned that although it was the responsibility of governments to provide an affordable quality education to citizens, the defaulting States would have done a ‘less evil’ to the affected candidates if they had given them prior information on the state of their coffers.

His words: “it is both disturbing and shameful that some state could not finance the WAEC fee of their students which they took upon themselves. If you know your state does not have the money to sponsor such project, say it; it is not a crime and nobody will force you to do so instead of mortgaging the educational future of the students because of self pride and the desire to maintain a status quo”.

Ogagifo decried the backlog of outstanding salaries owed civil servants in many states across the country, blaming the quagmire on the lack of political will and desire for illicit amassment of wealth by those entrusted with public resources. He, therefore, urged the government of all affected states to fashion out new measures to redeem themselves from the debt burden which, according to him, are reminiscent of poor managerial skills of public officers.

“I think governments are not doing enough to ensure that they have the money to pay workers because, if you consider the take home salaries of many politicians, you will know it is just too much. Why must an individual be allowed to amass such wealth when workers have not been paid”, the PS chipped in.

This challenge, he maintained, would not have come up in the first place but for the poor managerial skills of those who have their fingers on public purses because “if you estimate the revenues accruing to state governments from the federation account, Internally generated revenue as well as the loans we hear them seek every day, then you will understand that some few individuals are the cause of this problem”.