The West African Examinations Council WAEC, has revealed the identity of those behind the alleged leaked examination papers, mentioning some supervisors and invigilators given to the council by examination centres were behind the “unwholesome act”.
WAEC Head of National Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, made the revealation while speaking to journalists on the need to sustain the integrity of the Regional examinations.
Responding officially to widespread reports that its Examination papers which began on 17 August leaked, Areghan affirmed that the report was false, malicious, misleading and wicked.
According to him, there was no way WAEC examination would leak, while still under its custody.
“We as a council, do not know these persons, sent to us by the various State Ministries of Education. In the same vein, we cannot manufacture supervisors or invigilators from the moon, they are Nigerians and we need to work together.”
He described the activities of those behind the malicious rumours as ‘unscrupulous elements’.
Areghan explained that those behind the unwholesome activities were some supervisors and invigilators given to the council by the schools for the conduct of the examination.
He expressed satisfaction with the level.of compliance to the CIVID-19 safety protocols by candidates and officials across the country.
However, let me first of all say that we are very satisfied with the level of compliance to the COVID-19 safety protocols by the candidates and all those involved in the conduct of this examination in all the schools visited in Lagos.”
“We have been going out on a daily basis to schools around the state since the start of the examination for inspection and to ensure that all the necessary requirements as rolled out by the NCDC are in place.
“The story is the same every where, there is total compliance and we are very happy with it. The students are all busy writing the examination, one at a time. There is no loitering or clustering together, no looking left, right or centre by the candidates while they were writing their papers.
“However, our only worry or concern is the damaging effect the issue of malpractice may cause some innocent candidates, should they be tempted to patronise fraudsters, who post unauthorised materials on the internet,” the council boss said.
Areghan noted that some supervisors and invigilators who do not mean well for the candidates, wanted to destroy their future and destiny through unwholesome activities.
“The fact of the matter is that they can never have access to our question booklets. It is not possible under the sun.
“What they do and I want all Nigerians to know this, is that we issue question booklets to the supervisors, maybe one hour before time, which is the regulation under normal circumstances.
“And once these supervisors get hold of these materials, they are now in charge.
“Unfortunately, the unscrupulous ones among them misuse this role by opening the booklets before time, snap with their handsets and send outside and this is bad enough,” he explained.
Areghan stated that if all the rules guiding the conduct of the examination were strictly adhered to by all stakeholders, there would be nothing like examination malpractice or misleading the public by snapping and pushing unauthorised materials on the internet.
The HNO commended some of the supervisors who were keeping to the rules and ensuring that the integrity of the examination was not compromised
