Parents and candidates who sat for the 2020 West African Examinations Council (WAEC) are currently in a state of anxiety as the examination body withheld the results of all candidates that sat for it in all public schools in Ekiti State.
Parents and their children, who besieged cyber cafes to check and print their results, were disappointed, as they were told that the results are yet to be released.
WAEC had on Sunday, November 1 announced via its official Twitter handle that the results would be released on Monday, November 2.
The examination was taken between August 17, 2020 and September 12, and the council was expected to release the results on October 27 – 45 days after
The candidates and their parents got more incensed by the rumours flying around on social media that the results were withheld due to Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government’s indebtedness to WAEC.
It was being widely rumoured that the state is still owing several millions of naira being the free WAEC fee declared for all students in public schools, by Fayemi, as part of his free education policy.
The state government has been paying the WAEC fee of all students in public schools since the inception of Fayemi’s second term in 2018.
One of the parents said: “The government must have pity for these students who had to stay at home for months before the examination was written.
“They must please look for way to sort out whatever caused this unwholesome development, because many of the candidates will use the results for university admission. We plead and beg that the government must do this fast”.
But when contacted, the Commissioner for Information, Mr, Akin Omole, doused the tension by debunking the allegation that the state indebtedness to WAEC necessitated the withholding of the results.
Omole clarified that the results were put on hold owing to computation mistakes made by WAEC and not because of debt.
“The seizure was caused by the mistakes made in some of the ways the results were computed. The issue of Ekiti owing money doesn’t arise, it was a blatant lie.
The government immediately contacted WAEC and it tendered apologies to the state.
“We appeal to our candidates and parents not to be ruffled by this, the government is handling the issue with all seriousness.
“Going by what WAEC said, the results will be released either on Thursday or Friday this week.”