COVID-19 has really depleted our resources — WAEC

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has again lamented the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation, saying the development has really depleted its resources.

The Head of the National Office of WAEC Nigeria, Mr Patrick Areghan, gave this impression in an exclusive interview with Tribune Online.

He said COVID-19 had substantially pushed up the operating costs of WAEC just as it had done to many other organisations and institutions in the country and elsewhere globally.

For example, he said, the cost of conducting examinations in the country has gone up appreciably since last year as the council has to engage more staff and hire more adhoc-workers and also provide other logistics for the conduct of the exams and in a hitch-free manner.

He said apart from that, the council had been witnessing lower enrolment in both the school-based WASSCE and other diets since the breakout of the disease when compared with previous editions and the implication is the dwindling income.

He said this situation was equally why many candidates are not adherence to the exam registration deadline.

He said it was not only that WAEC is operating in a hostile environment due to security challenges particularly in the northern part of the country or facing the challenge of examination malpractice, but non-adherence to exam registration deadline by candidates is another major challenge.

He said the development oftentimes prevented the council from printing the exam materials at the right time when it would have been cheaper and more convenient.

Areghan said the council wished COVID-19 and the insecurity situations are successfully brought under control in no distance time in the country.

(Nigerian Tribune)