WAEC arrests 20 exam officials for malpractice

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No fewer than 20 school officials, allegedly aiding and abetting examination malpractice, have been arrested by the West African Examination Council in its ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates.

The Council said that the arrests were made in various parts of the country.

“Now, since the commencement of this examination, we have deployed our technology, designed to catch examination cheats and we are happy at the results we have gotten so far.

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“For instance, in Ibadan, Oyo, where we have our zonal office, which takes care of Osun, Kwara and Oyo itself, we made three arrests in a school and for the purpose of confidentiality, I will not mention the name.

“There, a supervisor at a centre, principal and invigilator were all arrested. They were arrested for allegedly snapping and posting the questions to some platforms, thereby, aiding and abetting examination malpractices.’’

He said: “Then, in Maiduguri, a supervisor and principal of a school, were both arrested and handed over to the police too.

“In Umuahia, a teacher and a supervisor were arrested in a particular school and they have been handed over to the police.

“In Abeokuta, a school proprietor was the first to be caught at the beginning of this examination on May 8, snapping and posting question papers,” he said.

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Areghan described the act as a monumental disgrace.

The WAEC official said that the proprietor and a supervisor had since been arrested and also handed over to the police.

He further disclosed that the same situation was also recorded at

Osogbo, where a principal, invigilator and chief supervisor were arrested for the same offence.

According to him, in Kaduna too, a supervisor and an examination official in a school who were caught in the act, were arrested and handed over to the police.

He explained that the school, which was ceded to Kaduna was supposed to be Kano, but was ceded because it was closer to Kaduna.

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Areghan said that the arrests would continue until the end of the examination.

He urged candidates not to allow their future to be compromised by persons who did not wish them well, by promising to assist them pass their examination through illegal means, stressing that WAEC’s examinations could never be accessed illegally.

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According to him, all of the culprits caught in the act may have been paid by the unsuspecting candidates and their parents, promising to assist them pass the examination.

“I want to counter this statement that some people are fond of making, which is that our examination questions always leak.

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“That does not exist. Our examination is always safe and secured until they get to the candidates in the hall.”

He asserted that WAEC examination questions don’t ever leak and cautioned the media to stop using the word “leak”.

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“What actually happens is that, once the examination is about to start, we give the question papers to the supervisors, one hour before commencement, so that they can travel from the collection point to the various schools, where they will administer the examination.

“Immediately they get to the exam hall, they will open the pack in the name of distributing to candidates and they will snap and post to various designated platforms- WhatsApp, Instagram and others.

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“Such persons are members of a syndicate group who collect money,’’ he said.

According to him, once the examination is already in progress, anyone that takes pictures of the papers and posts will be detected.

Areghan noted that the council had a method of detecting who snapped, who posted, who it was posted to and which candidate’s question booklet was posted.

According to him, that is when the council swings to action by rounding all of them up and subsequently handing them over to the police.

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“You have been following me around for this monitoring

“You saw me telling these children that they will hardly have time to access any materials snapped and posted on any platforms because they are already in the hall writing the examination.

“From what we have seen so far today at the schools we visited, I will say that the examination has been going on smoothly. There has not been any challenge beyond our control.

“Of course, you will come across persons who will want to prove smart by cutting corners and trying to get things done unethically, but we have been able to beat them to it.

“There are though, some that we do not bother ourselves with, as we will deal with such administratively.’’

He noted that only hard work was the way out to a stable and progressive country, adding that schools should continue to stick to academic excellence and nothing less, in order to sustain quality education.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that schools visited for the monitoring on Thursday included ST and T in Ikeja, Ikeja Senior High School as well as State Senior High School among others.

Credit: Punch

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Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
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Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
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Ademola Akinbola

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Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
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