“Students of public secondary schools of Sokoto and Zamfara will not be taking part in this year’s May/June diet of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). The head of Nigeria’s office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Patrick Areghan, who disclosed this on Monday, however, did not state the reasons for the exemption. But PREMIUM TIMES can report that the examination body refused to accept candidates from Zamfara State over an accumulated debt owed over the years”, writes Premium Times.
Yes, young people from Sokoto and Zamfara will not be writing WAEC because of fees. Yet, farmers in the state are mobilizing to buy a presidential nomination form for a governor of the central bank, as politicians from the areas pay millions of naira to purchase forms for different political offices.
First, I call the Minister of Education to step forward and help these kids. This is the 21st century, and Nigeria cannot allow these things to happen. He must work with the President and Finance Ministry to deduct the monthly allocations of Sokoto and Zamfara states and pay these debts to WAEC directly.
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As that happens, I challenge politicians in Sokoto and Zamfara states to show leadership. There is no decency buying N100 million forms when young people in your state cannot even attempt WAEC because the states have been accumulating debts which resulted to a WAEC ban. With N100m, you can settle these debts and win an election which truly matters. That election is one for the future!
Reliable sources confirmed to this newspaper how the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, owed the examination body accumulated fees for public school candidates sponsored for the examination.
But the state’s commissioner for education, Zainab Gummi, told our reporter on the phone that the issue is being addressed in the interest of the students and Nigeria as a whole.
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Which one is debt again, does WAEC allow people to write exams on credit? There’s nothing one won’t hear in Nigeria.
Tambuwal is the governor of Sokoto State, and he is going around wanting to be president, when he cannot handle small matters? The sultan is from there too. I think they should be worried and embarrassed at the same time.
As for Zamfara, maybe it should be merged with another state, as it’s proving incapable of excelling in anything.
Since these states collect cheques from Abuja, all these fees should be deducted upfront, if they don’t like it, they should go to court and argue, then the FG can argue that security of life and property is foremost duty of a government, and not giving those kids basic education entails compromising national security.