Some stakeholders in the education sector in Delta State have described as worrisome and most unfortunate the threat issued by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) that it would not release the 2015 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) results of candidates in 19 states that were indebted to the council.

Those who spoke to News Express include a onetime Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Delta State Wing, Comrade Jonathan Ojobu; the Proprietress of LEOCONS Educational Centre, Asaba, Mrs. Martina Osaji; a teacher in Agbor Technical College, Agbor, Mr. Emmanuel Igudia and another secondary school teacher in the state, Mr. Abel Nmonye.

Comrade Ojobu said the unfolding scenario between WAEC and the yet-to-be-named state governments was an unfortunate development. He urged the indebted states to take urgent steps aimed at addressing the issue frontally in order to engender healthy development in the education sector.

According to him, if the problem is not nipped in the bud timely enough, students who wrote the said examinations would experience frustration as the development was capable of crippling the students’ access to education which, he said, was their right. Ojobu advised WAEC to give the affected states more time to defray their indebtedness.

Mrs. Osaji stressed the need for the affected state governments to look for money to clear their indebtedness to WAEC for the sake of the students in order not to inhibit their quest for sound education. She noted that “anyone without WAEC or NECO result cannot be offered admission into any tertiary institution for further studies.”

Mrs. Osaji stressed the need to remedy the situation so that students who wrote the particular examination could progress in their academic career instead of withholding their results. She described the threat as “a development that may keep them at home and at the same time, lure them into social vices.”

On her part, Mr. Igudia declared that the development would negatively affect the education sector of the nation. He, however, expressed optimism that the affected state governments would settle their indebtedness before the expiration of the deadline given by WAEC “because, they cannot face the scandal and pressure from both the affected students and their parents.” He applauded WAEC for alerting the nation of the development.

In his contribution, Mr. Nmonye expressed shock over the development. He said that if carried out, the WAEC threat to withhold results of students in the states owing the council would be a major setback on the part of the students because “many of them wrote their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) with awaiting result.” Nmonye pointed out that the states owing the Council should pay up their debt in the interest if the students.

•Photo shows Head of WAEC National Office, Charles Eguridu.