Niger government, NECO, WAEC Agree on N676m Debt Settlement

Laleye Dipo in Minna
The Niger State government, the National Examination Council NECO and the West African Examination Council, WAEC have agreed on the modalities for the payment of examination fees which made it impossible for candidates of the state that sat for the last public examinations organised by the examination bodies from accessing their results

NECO AND WAEC recently released the Senior Schools Certificate Examinations results they conducted between May and July this year but the websites were shut against the state’s candidates as a result of the debt.

Niger state government which has a policy of paying for one of the examinations on behalf of their candidates owe NECO N238M and WAEC N438m.

As part of the agreement according to THISDAY findings, the government was said to have paid over N200m to WAEC and N100m to NECO last Wednesday with the understanding that that the balance would be paid in equal installments over the next three months.

We gathered that following the payment and the agreement reached the websites of the two examinations bodies were opened for the candidates last Thursday which put them to be in position to access their results.

No official of the state Ministry of Education was prepared to comment on this development but a senior staff said ‘we cannot allow the situation to continue, it will not be in the interest of our children’.

The official said the state acting Governor Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Ketso directed the Ministry to source and pay the money ‘at all cost’ which we have done’.

WAEC and NECO officials who confirmed the story on condition of anonymity warned that future occurrence would not be tolerated.
One of them said ‘If the state government cannot pay on behalf of their candidates it should let the parents know instead of causing them unnecessary embarrassment’.
End.