The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says efforts at making inroads into the neighboring non-WAEC member countries such as the Republic of Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali have paid off.
The outgoing Registrar to council, Dr Iyi Uwadiae, disclosed this at his valedictory media and launch of the council’s tele-conference facility on Wednesday in Lagos.
Uwadiae, who would retire after seven years of holding office as the Registrar on September 30, said that more schools and candidates in those non-WAEC member countries had been attracted to the council’s examination.
According to him, the development is a major breakthrough for the council, among other achievements during his tenure.
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Giving account of his stewardship, he said that in an effort to satisfy the educational aspirations of some other stakeholders in the five member-countries, the WAEC Secretariat in Ghana successfully introduced additional diets of the WASSCE and BECE for private candidates.
“We introduced in the private candidates’ examinations, a facility for admitting on-the-spot candidates who were unable to enroll within the designated registration period.
“We also created `Attestation of Results’ which is a replacement as good as the original, to alleviate the challenges faced by former candidates whose original certificates are missing or destroyed,’’ he said.
The Registrar said that the council, during his tenure, had remained focused on full migration into digital administration of examinations, and the march toward the ultimate goal had progressed significantly.
“To this end, WAEC-owned Computer Based Test (CBT) installations have continued to spring up for use by the council and public/private institutions/organizations, while e-marking software and equipment have been deployed for the marking of selected subject papers.
“The secretariat too has paid a deserved attention to the issue of examination leakages and resolved to settle for nothing short of total eradication of the nuisance.
“Other types of malpractice also received our deepest reflection, as the council constructed or furnished for use, its own standard/model examination halls in places like Lagos and Benin City in Nigeria, Accra, Cape Coast, Wa and Koforidua in Ghana as well as Tubmanburg in Liberia,’’ he said.
According to him, the council has been relentless in the deployment of technology in its operations and activities, and with its use, built tighter security around its examination materials and conduct.
He said that various gadgets and software were deployed for identification of candidates, capturing of data and detection of irregularities at examination centres.
Uwadiae said that constrained papers were also introduced to stifle cheating at the examinations.
The Registrar said that council had sustained the culture of paperless meetings with the preparations and circulation of electronic folders for all committee and staff meetings across the five member-countries,.
“We now disseminate information and communicate worldwide through our well-maintained website as, subscribed telephone networks, social media, and other electronic and internet based channels.
“We also went some way further by implementing the tele-conferencing project, which had remained in the pipeline for quite a while.
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“It gives me great pleasure as we gather with you today to launch this tele-conferencing project for the council. The facility is already functional in three offices: the WAEC headquarters Accra, WAEC International Office Lagos and the Gambia National office, Banjul ,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Uwadiae started his career in WAEC on November 1, 1985 and served the council in various positions of trust and responsibility as he ascended the ladder.
He was appointed Head of Nigeria office on February 4, 2008, a position he held for four years, and assumed office as the 12th Registrar to the council on October 1, 2012 for a five- year tenure.
At the expiration of his tenure in September 2017, he was granted a two-year extension of contract by the council, which would end on Monday, September 30. (NAN)
