The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has appealed to Nigerians to ignore reports in circulation that claim the council has cancelled the May/June 2020 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
In a statement by the head of WAEC, Nigeria, Patrick Areghan, on Monday, the council said the notice alleging the cancellation of 2020 WASSCE did not emanate from it.
The council described the publication as “patently false and deceitful.”
“It is nothing but the handiwork of mischief makers who are out to defraud innocent and unsuspecting candidates and their parents/guardians,” the council said.
According to the council, “Our attention has been drawn to a fake publication circulating in the social media, to the effect that the WAEC has cancelled the conduct of the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2020, as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and was, therefore, set to refund N22,500 to candidates who had enrolled for the examination.
“To begin with, the fee for the examination is N13,950 only and not N22,500. WAEC, as an examining body in the sub-region, has not announced the cancellation of the examination,” the council said.
WAEC said it only announced a postponement until normalcy is restored. WAEC couldn’t have made a mistake in the full meaning of its acronym.”
The council said it will come up with a new International Timetable for the conduct of the examination in the West African sub-region once the situation returns to normal,
“This will take effect after due consultations with relevant stakeholders. Candidates are, therefore, advised to disregard the publication and concentrate on studying hard for the examination,” the council said. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in March postponed its school certificate examination (WASSCE) for this year, including in Nigeria, until further notice due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
The council, however, said a new date for the examination will be communicated to schools and other stakeholders once normalcy returns
As of Monday morning, Nigeria has recorded 1273 cases of COVID-19. Of these, 239 infected people have recovered and have been discharged while 40 people have died.