WAEC Denies Awareness of Financial Misconduct by Lawmakers
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has publicly stated that it has no knowledge of any financial wrongdoing involving the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies. The council's clarification addresses rumours surrounding the committee's recent oversight activities.
Speaking on behalf of WAEC, the Head of the Nigeria National Office, Amos Dangut, firmly denied any awareness of improper requests for funds. "I am the head of WAEC. I am not aware of anything like that," Dangut stated, distancing the examination body from the allegations.
Committee Member Insists on Transparency
A member of the House committee, who chose to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak publicly, supported WAEC's position. The source emphasised that the panel did not request or retain any funds improperly during its oversight duties.
The anonymous lawmaker explained that all financial transactions related to the oversight exercise were transparent and properly documented. He further noted that no official findings of misconduct have been issued against the committee or any of the examination bodies involved.
"WAEC and other examination bodies have not been formally implicated in any wrongdoing and have maintained that they were not involved in any disputed financial transactions," the committee member added.
Background: The UTME Investigation and JAMB's Apology
This clarification emerges amidst ongoing public discussion following the House committee's engagements with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The committee was investigating a technical issue that affected the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The probe began in March 2025 after the House of Representatives adopted a motion of urgent public importance. This motion called for a review of specific aspects of the national examination process. As part of this exercise, the committee requested JAMB to submit extensive documents covering:
- Annual budgets
- Revenue generation records
- Remittances to the government
- Financial implementation reports for multiple years
The situation was preceded by a notable incident where the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, tendered an apology to the House of Representatives. This apology followed a disagreement between a JAMB official and the committee during an earlier investigative hearing.
Prof. Oloyede rendered the apology when he appeared before the House Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies to submit the requested documents. The incident stemmed from a previous hearing where a JAMB director attended on the Registrar's behalf.
The JAMB Registrar dissociated the Board from the conduct in question and reaffirmed his respect for the National Assembly and its constitutional oversight responsibilities. He assured the committee that similar issues would not occur again and confirmed that all outstanding documents requested by the lawmakers had been submitted.
