The 72nd Meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), was held on Thursday, 27th to Saturday, 29th January 2022 at the WAEC Testing and Training Centre (WTTC), Ogba – Lagos.
The Committee, which is the highest decision-making organ of WAEC on examination related matters in Nigeria, meets twice a year, to consider matters relating to the conduct of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School and Private Candidates.
Its statutory Chairman is the Chief Government Nominee on Council. Membership of the Committee comprises four representatives each of the States’ Ministries of Education and the Department of Education of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, ANCOPSS and Universities. It also includes the Registrar to Council, Head of the Nigeria National Office, Head of Test Development Division (TDD) and Head of Test Administration Division (TAD) also of the Nigeria National Office.
At the 72nd Meeting, the Committee received reports on Irregularity, Special and Clemency Cases arising from the conduct of WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2020 – Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021- First Series earlier considered at the 71st Meeting of the Committee. The Committee also received and considered reports on the conduct of WASSCE for School Candidates, 2021 as well as Irregularity Cases arising from the conduct of the examination.
In the course of considering the various reported cases of malpractice, the Committee, after diligent deliberations, approved appropriate sanctions in all established cases of malpractice, as prescribed by the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the Council’s examinations. It authorized that the entire results of candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Entire Results (CER) be cancelled, while subject results of Candidates proven to have been involved in malpractice cases which attract the penalty of Cancellation of Subject Results (CSR), be similarly cancelled.
Furthermore, some candidates will also suffer other sanctions such as being barred from sitting for the Council’s examinations for two years. Some schools will be derecognized for a specified number of years or have their recognition completely withdrawn. Some Supervisors that were found wanting in the discharge of their examination duties will be formally reported to their employers and blacklisted while some Invigilators will also be reported to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary action.
The resolutions of the Committee will be implemented without delay and the affected candidates and schools duly informed by the Council. However, the results of candidates who were exonerated by the Committee will be released without further delay.
In furtherance of this, the Committee considered Special Cases, Appeals for Clemency, Impounded and Restitution Cases from WASSCE for School Candidates, 2021. The Committee also received a report on the Statistics of Entries and Results for WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2020 – Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021 – First Series. In addition, it received and considered the General Resume of the Chief Examiners’ Reports on WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021- First Series and WASSCE for School Candidates, 2021. It equally received and considered reports on the Activities of the Aptitude Tests Department (ATD), for the period April 2021 to December 2021 and on the Activities of the Research Department of the Council for the period April 2021 to November 2021.
With regard to the General Resume of the Chief Examiners Report on WASSCE for Private Candidates’ 2021 – First Series. The Committee noted the observation by the Chief Examiners that the standard of the papers compared favourably with those of previous years and that the clarity and unambiguity of the questions were worthy of note as they were within the scope of the syllabuses. They also stated that the rubrics were clear, questions were explicit and the marking schemes were comprehensive. The Committee noted the various shortcomings of the candidates as reported by the Chief Examiners.
The Committee commended the detailed reports presented on the Statistics and Results of WASSCE for Private Candidate 2020 -Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidate 2021 -First Series as well as the attention given to the Candidates with Special Needs. They also acknowledged that this will further assist and improve the Special Education Policy Development of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Finally, the Committee, having observed the success rate and excellent performance of candidates who sat WASSCE for School Candidates, 2021 congratulated the Management of the Nigeria National Office and stakeholders on the overall performance of candidates which was a significant improvement on that of the previous examination.
Issued by the Public Affairs Department
Signed: Moyosola Adeyegbe – Ag. Head, Public Affairs
WAEC, Yaba, Lagos – 29th January 2022
for: Head of National Office