The House of Representatives has quizzed the Head of the National Office, West African Examination Council, WAEC, Nigeria, Josiah Dangut, over a N6 billion deficit the agency incurred in 2023.
The House Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, led by Oforji Oboku, grilled Dangut during an investigative hearing on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Committee queried WAEC over a loan of N5 billion it got in 2022 for the purchase of customized calculators.
In his defence, Dangut provided the cashbook of the agency to the committee. But the Committee members declined, insisting that he must submit bank statements of the Council account.
Oforji insisted that the WAEC had to explain how it generated N34 billion in 2023 and spent N40 billion.
The Committee Chairman wondered how the Council could approve a loan of up to N5 billion. This is even when the Ministerial Board could not approve such an amount.
Oforji asked the WAEC head to tell the Reps Committee how many students participated in the 2022 examinations for which the calculators were obtained.
Not satisfied with the response of Dangut, the committee resolved that WAEC must submit all its bank statements from 2018 to date “within a week”.
Following the unsatisfactorily response of the WAEC Head, a member of the Committee, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, described WAEC as uncooperative. He stated that the Council must be held accountable.
Abiante said, “WAEC Nigeria was an uncooperative witness in this process. Shielding and denying Nigerians the value of whatever investment the country has had in that office.
“WAEC should submit all its bank account statements to the committee in furtherance of the investigation.”
The Committee also frowned at the uncooperative stance of WAEC. It stated that out of eight submissions demanded from the Council in a bid to probe its expenditure, only one – nominal roll – was submitted.
The Committee, therefore, demanded that WAEC should provide the expenditures that led to the N6 billion deficit. It is also to provide all correspondences related to the purchase of customized calculators.
It insisted that evidence of approval for the N5 billion 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.
It queried WAEC for breaching the public procurement and financial regulations act in the payment of 50 per cent of the contract for the construction of its Taraba office valued at N532 million.
Dangut, however, pleaded with the lawmakers to give him another date to enable him to present the statement of account and other documents demanded.
The WAEC Head also explained that he had to pay 50 per cent of the Taraba office contract sum. This, he said is to avoid the inflationary trend in the country.
source: NAN
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