Again, Reps Grill WAEC Officials Over N5bn Loan For Customised Calculators

For the umpteenth time, the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies on Tuesday quizzed officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) over a N5 billion loan for the purchase of customised calculators.

The Committee Chairman, Oforji Oboku, while interrogating the Head of National Office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Nigeria, Josiah Dangut at the continuation of its investigation at the National Assembly wondered how the examination body could approve a loan of up to N5 billion when even a Ministerial Board could not approve such amount.

Oboku had explained that the committee was not on a witch hunt mission as “Both the legislative house and WAEC are bound by the Constitution.

As such, the committee expects full cooperation from WAEC, including the timely provision of all necessary documents to expedite our inquiry and report.

He also asked Dangut and his colleagues to explain how WAEC generated N34 billion in 2023 but spent N40 billion.

He queried the WAEC Head about how many students participated in the 2022 elections that they got the calculators for.

Oboku demanded that WAEC must provide the expenditures that have led to the N6 billion deficits and all correspondence related to the purchase of customised calculators.

He also insisted that evidence of approval for the 5 billion naira loan to purchase the customized calculators must be provided.

The committee also queried WAEC for breaching the financial, public procurement and the financial regulations Acts over the payment of 50 per cent of the contract for the construction of its Taraba state office worth N532 million.

The Committee also demanded for evidence of due process followed for the award of the contract as well as evidence of payment, including payment vouchers and bank records.

It equally demanded for evidence of submission of accounts to the Auditor General for the Federation from 2018 to 2023 and the profile of the external auditor for the agency and the engagement letters for the past three years.

In his defence, Dangut, who was accompanied by the Registrar; Angus Okeleze, Senior Deputy Registrar; Victor Odu, Acting Director of Finance; Segun Jerumeh, Deputy Director of Finance, provided the cashbook of the agency to the Committee, but they declined, insisting that it must be the bank statements.

He also explained that he had to pay 50 per cent of the Taraba office contract sum to avoid the astronomical rise in the inflationary trend in the country.

Following the unsatisfactory response by the representatives, the committee resolved that WAEC must submit all its bank statements from 2018 till date within a week.