By Gabriel Dike
Eighteen-year-old student of St. Paul’s Academy, Plateau, Chioma Blessing Obidigbo, has emerged the overall best candidate in the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Chioma, who was honoured yesterday by the council, obtained Eight As to beat over 1.5 million candidates that sat for the examination.
Aside Chioma, two other students, Ingang Valour Mber from Topfaith International Secondary School, Mkpatak, Akwa-Ibom State with eight As and Ayomide Benjamin Olumide-Attah from St Francis Secondary School, Idimu, Lagos were also honoured.
The trio were presented with plaques, cash, certificates and trophies at the 61st annual meeting of the Nigeria National Committee (NNC) in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Declaring open the NNC meeting, Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, lauded the council on the plan of migrating WASSCE for private candidates to computer-based testing. Governor Sule said WAEC has stood firm for 71 years and also continued to evolve in many ways providing leadership in educational assessment.
He said his administration has resolved to continue to revive and reposition the education sector and urged the council to protect the integrity of its certificates.
He said one of his administration’s visions was to improve the deteriorating standard of education in the state by turning it into a hub for learning, creating globally competitive model learning centres, and empowering the youths through job and wealth creation.
“Education will forever remain the best legacy to bequeath to the children and youths of Nasarawa, as well as the only veritable tool of socio-economic development of the state,” he said.
The governor advised the council to embark on initiatives that will enhance the quality of its service delivery systems to candidates and other stakeholders.
WAEC Head of National Office (HNO), Josiah Dangnut, said the NNC is the highest policy-making organ of the council in Nigeria.
He said the committee ensures the policies of the council in Nigeria are formulated and executed in the best public interest. He informed the gathering that in line with global best practices, the council plans to migrate its WASSCE for private candidates examination diets from paper and pencil test to Computer Based Examination.
“The innovation will commence with WASSCE for private candidates, 2024 – first series, which will be held in February 2024. While the objective tests will be fully computer-based, the essay and test of practical papers will be hybrid, in which the examination questions will be delivered on screen and candidates are required to write answers on the answer booklets given to them.”