WAEC under fire as officials held in custody amidst Reps probe

By Christiana Ekpa

Representatives of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) were on Tuesday evening held in custody on the orders of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies.
The officials were Amos Josiah Dangut, Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, who represented the Registrar; Angus Okeleze, Senior Deputy Registrar; Victor Odu, Acting Director of Finance; Segun Jerumeh, Deputy Director of Finance.
This followed a motion moved by a member of the Committee, Hon Uchenna Okonkwo, during an investigative hearing, after the officials failed to answer their questions to their satisfaction.
The lawmakers during the hearing were in heated arguments with the WAEC officials whether the examination body was accountable to parliament or not.
Dangut had earlier in his presentation to the committee posited that WAEC was not an agency of government, hence not accountable as other agencies.
But the lawmakers insisted that WAEC Nigeria was a creation of an Act of the National Assembly, hence must account for all their activities to them.
They pointed out that the National Assembly makes appropriation for WAEC.
The lawmakers also pointed out that WAEC’s convention dictates that they must submit to the legislation of any of its member countries.
Following the arguments, Okonkwo moved, “I will like to move a motion that while pending the investigation to look into the activities of WAEC Nigeria, the invited guest before is should be taken into custody and held at the police post while we seek for solutions for these issues they are bringing upon Nigerians.”
The motion was seconded by Hon Marie Ebikake.
There was uproar in the venue of the hearing as one of the WAEC officials kept shouting at the panel that it was being unfair to them.
Theresafter officials were taken away by members of the Sergeant at Arms of the National Assembly where they were detained one of the offices for about 15 minutes.
However, after a brief closed door session, the Committee resolved to allow them go and come back at a later date with relevant documents demanded of them.
The Committee Chairman, Hon Oforji Oboku, said they must bring the audited statement of accounts of the examinations body from 2018 till date.
He also directed that they must present relevant documents in respect to a N5 billion loan, WAEC got in 2022 to buy a customised calculator among others.
The Chairman said WAEC cannot operate outside the supervision of the National Assembly.
“You are not different from any other agency, saying you are not an agency of government. We are not here to witch hunt you. WAEC is subject to Nigeria’s laws. We have reviewed the position and we have all the powers to oversight you. You cannot come here and say WAEC is not an agency of government,” he said.
He said WAEC would be invited at a later date.