Panic as WAEC ‘withholds’ results of public schools in Ekiti

There is palpable anxiety among students who sat for the 2020 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ekiti after the exam body allegedly withheld results of all candidates in public schools in the state.

WAEC had on Monday released results of candidates who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria.

Shortly after the development, candidates who wrote the exam in various parts of the state had thronged cyber cafes to check their results.

They were, however, unable to do so with operators telling them that their results have not been released.

This had ignited fears among the candidates and their parents with unverified reports later claiming that the development was due to the state’s indebtedness to the exam body.

Kayode Fayemi, the state governor, is said to have been paying the WAEC fees of all students in public schools in the state since 2018 as part of his administration’s free education policy.

Rumours had therefore swirled that the state was owing WAEC millions of naira, hence the students’ inability to access their results.

Reacting, however, Akin Omole, the commissioner for information, dismissed claims that the state was owing WAEC.

Omole attributed the delay in the release of results to errors on the part of WAEC during computation.

“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,” he said.

“The government immediately contacted WAEC and it tendered apologies to the state.”

Omole explained that the state government had already reached out to WAEC over the matter, assuring that the results would be released before Friday.

“We appeal to our candidates and parents not to be ruffled by this, the government is handling the issue with all seriousness,” he added.

“Going by what WAEC said, the results will be released either on Thursday or Friday this week.”