• It is unfortunate –Head, National Office Barely six months after National Mirror exclusively reported the cancellation of the SSCE results of about 300 former students of Ogudu Senior Grammar School, Lagos, by the West African Examination Council, WAEC, four years after they wrote the exams, the council has again cancelled yet another set of results five years after being released. MOJEED ALABI reports.
Obviously devastated and worn-out, Malomi Butane Prosper, a final year student of the Department of Geology, Faculty of Physical Sciences at the University of Benin, Edo State, walked into National Mirror newsroom in Lagos on a sunny afternoon.
He was coming from the Head Office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Yaba, Lagos, where he had spent two days trying to find out why the sudden cancellation of Biology, one of the subjects in his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination results, written five years ago at Diamond Scholars Academy, Benin City, Edo State. Prosper's trouble started about a month ago when the university's Senate met to screen the list of prospective graduating students in preparation for their mobilisation for the mandatory National Youth Service Scheme programme.
"I was shocked when I was told by my department that Biology had been cancelled by WAEC. I could not believe my ears because this is the same result I used to gain admission in 2009 and has also been using since. I have also used it several times to apply for scholarships and bursary awards and no verification ever identified this," Prosper narrated.
Based on investigation, it was discovered that Prosper, with examination number 4131271142, was one of about 120 candidates that sat for the May/June 2008 examination in his school. On 27th of September 2008 when the result was released, Prosper found out that out of eight subjects he registered for, Physics was marked "outstanding" while he did not sit for Economics and Geography and was correctly recorded to be absent.
Two months after, exactly on November 20th, Prosper's Physics was released and he later got his certificate through his school. However, the 25-year-old, who lamented the shame and troubles brought upon him by the new development, said the principal of his secondary school, Mr. Odijie Felix had followed him to the exam body's zonal office in Benin where they were asked to write a letter to seek validation of the result. "We wrote the letter but about two weeks after, the officer- in-charge said there was little he could do and directed me to approach the headquarters office in Lagos.
Unfortunately, when I approached the Lagos office the man I was directed to meet by the receptionists was not only hostile but hardly gave me any clue. "I had to hang around by sleeping in a school compound till the following day so as to see somebody who could tell me the way out.
Again, I was directed to the same man who reluctantly told me that it could take months to get any official response. That was when I decided to approach National Mirror's office because I read about a similar case it had resolved in the past," Prosper explained.
Now, Prosper is disturbed about the development. He said if urgent steps are not taken, his dream of becoming a geologist in few months could be shattered, "because only the ongoing ASUU strike has delayed the Senate's decision to announce my expulsion from the university."
When National Mirror spoke with the principal of Diamond College, he expressed his surprise at what he called WAEC's inconsistencies. He said another student, who sat for the same 2008 May/June exam and simply identified as Iwuoha Chiagozie with examination number 4131271134, had also approached the school for similar problem.
"Chiagoze's case is worse. His complete result was cancelled online, and we are not even informed in the school until the boy came around. So, we cannot tell how many students are affected now until they approach us," the Principal told National Mirror.
Similarly, another candidate, Eriata Jume Ruth, who sat for the same May/June 2008 exam at Eagle Secondary School, also in Benin City, is currently having trouble with her result certificate as it carries the passport photograph of a male candidate.
Ruth, with examination number 4131821125 said she discovered this error about a month ago when she attempted to secure her Ordinary National Diploma result from Delta State Polytechnic, Oghara, and approached WAEC's Benin zonal office for her SSCE certificate as a requirement for the release of her OND result.
"I was surprised to find a male photograph on my certificate," she said, adding that she immediately complained at the WAEC office and was directed to liaise with the principal of her school.
On getting to the school, it was discovered that the passport photograph belongs to another candidate, Ochei Nonso Francis with examination number 4131821291, who already has his certificate with his passport.
In a telephone interview with National Mirror, Ruth's former teacher and prin-cipal, Mr. Aghayirinemwri Oyi, said the error could not have been from the school because the two candidates wrote the exams and never had any issue throughout the time the examination lasted. Reacting to the series of questions raised, the Head of the Nigeria's Office, WAEC, Mr. Charles Iguridu, said the development was an unfortunate one. He, however, noted that the council would not just cancel results or subjects of any candidate that had earlier been released without a reason.
But even at that, he said he could not say for now why the results in contention were cancelled and promised that the council would investigate the matter for necessary action.
National Mirror