Education
Probe: Showdown As Reps Arrest Head Of WAEC Nigeria, Senior Officials
The Nigerian Police Force on Tuesday arrested four officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), on the orders of the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies.
GWG.ng gathered that the arrested officials were Amos Dangut, Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, who represented the Registrar; Senior Deputy Registrar, Angus Okeleze; acting Director of Finance, Victor Odu; and Deputy Director of Finance, Segun Jerumeh.
The WAEC officials were arrested following a motion moved by a member of the committee, Uchenna Okonkwo, after the officials failed to give satisfactory responses to enquiries posed by the panel.
During the investigative hearing, the WAEC officials were engaged in an argument with the lawmakers as Dangut stated that the examination body was not an agency of government and, hence, not accountable to the parliament.
Despite a protest by the WAEC officials, they were led away by the Sergeant at Arms of the National Assembly and detained for about 15 minutes.
However, after a brief closed-door session, the committee ordered their release and mandated them to go home and prepare for another appearance.
The committee chairman, Oforji Oboku, urged them to come along with the audited statement of accounts of the examination body from 2018 to 2024 at a date that will be communicated.
He also directed that they must present relevant documents concerning the N5bn loan that WAEC got in 2022 to buy customised calculators, among others.
The chairman warned that WAEC could not operate outside the supervision of the National Assembly.
“You are not different from any other agency. We are not here for a witch-hunt. 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 the government.”
With additional reports from the Punch
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