The Head of the Nigeria National Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, while announcing the result at the WAEC office said the examination, which was an international one, took place simultaneously throughout the five member countries of the Council – The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

He said, “The examination ended on October 8, 2021, and today, Monday, November 22, 2021 – 45 days after the conduct of the last paper, we are releasing the result.

“This is a record time, taking into consideration the fact that we lost a week to insecurity, during the marking exercise in the South East, occasioned by the heightened tension before and during the Anambra Gubernatorial election.

“It is, therefore, not true, as you can see, that WAEC delayed the release of the results of the WASSCE (SC) 2021 as being speculated in some quarters. We have kept to our promise, in spite of all odds.

“We should be praised rather than being vilified. Nothing can be faster or earlier than what we have done.

“We do not release results without marking the scripts and processing the scores. We are grateful to the examiners for doing a good job within the stipulated period.”

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The Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, made this known while appearing on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television monitored by our correspondent from Abuja.

He said, “The strike will not happen. For one, I know that the fund to pay with is there and the Ministry of Education has assured me that by Wednesday they would emanate letters to make sure that the disbursement reaches the accounts of the various universities. We are not paying the unions directly, it will get to the universities’ accounts.

“I will have a meeting with the Minister of State for Education who is the one in charge of the affairs now because the main minister (Adamu Adamu) is overseas on health grounds. I will evaluate the situation with him and we would make sure that the disbursement goes on.”

According to Ngige, one of the mandates of the ministry is to settle industrial disputes. “As far as we are concerned, we have hit the ground running, making contacts with their real employers – the direct employers of university teachers, which is the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission,” he said.

When asked if the revitalisation fund was ready, Ngige said, “The fund is ready. The fund is in the account of the National Universities Commission and the Ministry of Education. They were doing what they called auditing of the earlier disbursed funds.

“Universities were supposed to retire the earlier funds given to them. As of the last meeting, 11 universities had not satisfactorily done that and, therefore, we gave a timeframe of two weeks to get those universities to conform and they would release the money.”

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This is coming as the Senior Staff Association of Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities met today to deliberate next moves over the failure of the Federal Government to meet the union’s demands.

Speaking at the University of Abuja, the National President of the Union, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, lamented the failure of the Federal Government to attend to the needs of the union which has left them with no choice.

“We are giving the Federal Government a three week ultimatum, if after three weeks they don’t meet our demands, we will be going on strike.

“We believe we have tried enough by giving them enough time.

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A circular released by the university stated that the convocation would hold between November 15 and 17.

The University’s Public Relations Officer, Olatunji Oladejo, said the decision was taken to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Part of the circular read, “Attendance at the International Conference Centre is open to First Class Honours graduands and recipients of prizes and awards only. Parents and visitors are not allowed into the campus neither will there be any form of party or social gathering during the period.

“All graduands are to comply with COVID-19 protocols, including wearing of face masks, physical distancing and use of hand sanitiser.

“All graduands are expected to pay the levies as stipulated whether or not they attend the convocation ceremonies as these will be required at the point of collection of the certificate.”

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NECO Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Dantali Wushishi, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Minna.

He said that out of 1,233,631 candidates who registered, 1,226,631 actually sat for the examination.

Wushishi explained that 945,853 candidates obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics, while 1,094,291candidates also obtained five credits and above irrespective of English Language and Mathematics.

He said that number of candidates who made five credits and above including English and Mathematics was 878,925 representing 71.64 per cent.

When compared with 2020 SSCE internal figures of 894,101,which was 73.89 per cent, a 2.2 percent decrease was noted.

He further explained that number of candidates who made five credits and above irrespective of English language and Mathematics was 1,226,796, representing 94.04 per cent.

Wushishi said that candidates involved in various forms of malpractices in 2021 was 20,003, representing 1.63 per cent, whereas 33,470 representing 2.63 percent cases were recorded in 2020.

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The Head of Information and Public Affairs of the council, Alhaji Azeez Sani, told newsmen in a telephone interview in Minna that marking and collation of the results have been completed.

Sani declared: “We have completed the marking and collation of the results, and very soon the result will be released.”

However, he did not say what was responsible for the delay in the release of the results, but allayed the fears of candidates that their aspirations would be met soon.

It was the practice for NECO over the years to release the results of its examination not more than 90 days after the last paper is written.

Thisday

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The development followed the concurrence of the Senate to the House of Representatives Bill which was earlier passed at the Green Chamber.

The institution will now be known as Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo after the Senate passed the bill for third reading.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said the bill has repealed the Act that established Adeyemi College of Education and re-enacted a new one for the establishment of the Adeyemi Federal College of Education.

The Bill for the upgrade of the foremost college of Education was passed in the Eight National Assembly but the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), declined assent to it.

Punch

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This was contained in a statement signed and made available to newsmen by ASUP’s Publicity Secretary, Abdullahi Yalwa.

He said, “The Union equally expressed its dismay at recent reports of infractions in the process of appointment of Principal Officers in Federal Polytechnics and some State-owned Polytechnics in disregard of extant provisions in establishment laws.

“The Union particularly noted the events at Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe where the process of appointment of Rector was flawed from inception leading to the shortlisting of unqualified persons; Federal Polytechnics, Offa and Mubi where the process has been tainted by the deliberate exclusion of qualified persons; as well as Federal Polytechnics Oko, Offa, Auchi, and Kaura Namoda where Council affairs are being relocated to the FCT without due consideration to the cost implication on the institutions, safety of staff and sensitive documents as well as general administration of the affected institutions.

“In view of the unsatisfactory status of the implementation of the Union’s MoA signed with the government in April 2021, the Nigerian public should hold the government and its agencies responsible for any other breakdown of industrial harmony in the sector as our Union and her members have shown considerable patience and restraint.

“The Union once again demands that the government should without further delay ensure the release of the arrears of the Minimum Wage to staff, release the approved Revitalization Fund for the sector and set up the implementation Committee to administer the funds, recommence the Renegotiation of the Union’s 2010 agreement and withdraw institutional accreditation to State-owned institutions where salaries are owed to staff.”

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