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By Abdullahi Abubakar
The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies quizzed Josiah Dangut, the Nigeria Head of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) over a N6 billion deficit in 2023 and a N5 billion loan for customized calculators.
Dangut who appeared before the Committee on Tuesday in Abuja was accompanied by the Registrar; Angus Okeleze, Senior Deputy Registrar; Victor Odu, Acting Director of Finance; Segun Jerumeh, Deputy Director of Finance, WAEC.
Dangut pleaded for more time to present the required documents and explained the 50% payment for the Taraba state office construction to avoid inflationary losses.
The committee chairman assured that their inquiry was not a witch-hunt but a constitutional obligation to ensure transparency and accountability.
The committee questioned how WAEC generated N34 billion in 2023 but spent N40 billion and approved a N5 billion loan without proper authorization.
They demanded explanations for the deficit, expenditures, and correspondence related to the calculator purchase. Additionally, they requested evidence of due process, payment records, and submission of accounts to the Auditor General.
Dangut however provided the cashbook of the Agency to the Committee, but the committee, dissatisfied with WAEC’s responses, ordered the submission of bank statements from 2018 to date within a week. WAEC was accused of being uncooperative and shielding information.
A member of the Committee, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, described WAEC as uncooperative, saying they must be held accountable.
“WAEC Nigeria was an uncooperative witness in this process, shielding and denying Nigerians of having value for whatever investment the country has had in that office should submit to this committee in furtherance of this investigation all the bank account statements of his office,” he said.
The Committee was piqued that out of eight submissions demanded from the examination in a bid to probe their expenditure, it only submitted one, which was the nominal roll.
The Committee Chairman said they had to explain how WAEC generated N34 billion in 2023 but spent N40 billion.
He also wondered how the examination body could approve a loan of up to N5 billion when even a Ministerial Board could not approve such an amount.
He queried the WAEC Head about how many students participated in the 2022 elections that they got the calculators.
The Committee demanded that WAEC must provide the expenditures that have led to the N6 billion deficits and all correspondence related to the purchase of customised calculators.
It said evidence of approval for the 5 billion naira loan to purchase the customized calculators must be provided
The Committee also demanded evidence of due process followed for the award of the contract as well as evidence of payment, including payment vouchers and bank records.
The Committee also demanded for evidence of submission of accounts to the Auditor General for the Federation from 2018 to 2023
It also demanded the profile of the external auditor for the agency and the engagement letters for the past three years.
The Committee also queried WAEC for breaching the financial, public procurement and financial regulations Acts over the payment of 50 per cent of the contract for the construction of its Taraba state office worth N532 million.
Dangut who pleaded with the lawmakers to give him another date to enable him to present the statement of account and other documents demanded
He also explained that he had to pay 50 per cent of the Taraba office contract sum to avoid the astronomical rise in the inflationary trend in the country.
Oboku said the Committee on Basic Education Examination Bodies is not a witch-hunting committee but is focused on fulfilling its constitutional obligations as outlined in the constitution.
“Both the legislative house and WAEC are bound by the Constitution. As such, the committee expects full cooperation from WAEC, including the timely provision of all necessary documents to expedite our inquiry and report,” he said.
