Kogi refunds N276.8m WAEC fees to parents

KOGI State Government has approved the re-reimbursement of N276.8 million to candidates that sat for the 2014/2015 West African Examination Council (WAEC) in the state.

The state government’s plan to pay the fees earlier was allegedly stalled by some officials in the ministry of education and the Teaching Service Commission, who were suspected to have inflated both the number of prospective candidates and the total amount expected to be paid to WAEC as examination fees.

Governor Idris Wada had set up a seven-man WAEC Fee Verification committee headed by Hajia Maryam Ladi Ibrahim that authenticated the correct number of candidates that sat for the examination.

Facts that emerged from their findings indicated that only N276.7 million was needed to offset the fees for all the students of Kogi State origin that were billed to sit for the examination.

The findings were coming against the backdrop that over N500m was what the officials in charge indicated was the cumulative amount required to pay for the WAEC fees.

Apparently piqued by the outrageous figure the Governor earlier expressed disappointment in the officials and accused them of working against the good intentions of the state government considering what the state get from Federation accounts monthly were outrageous.

According to him, when he assumed leadership in 2012, N270 million Naira was paid as WAEC fees for the students stressing that in 2013 the amount jumped to N300 million plus and in 2015 about N500 million.

He had indicated that the state government could not afford to fund some of the irregularities around the issue. Secretary of the committee Mr. Ibrahim Odoma disclosed to press men that 24,172 candidates were certified eligible to be refunded.