Ghana to ‘lose’ WAEC Headquarters to Nigeria over GH¢73m debt

Citing an outstanding debt of GH¢73 million owed by the Ghana office of the West African Examinations Council, a media report says the WAEC headquarters currently in Accra, Ghana might be relocated to Nigeria.

The report sighted by Pretertiary.com indicated that Nigeria has made significant investments in developing a modern infrastructure to host the WAEC headquarters, should the not-for-profit-making organization choose to relocate.

“This comes after Ghana accumulated a debt of GH¢73 million over the past eight years, covering unpaid subscriptions, dues and other financial obligations to the organization,” the report by a local media outlet stated.

The West African Examinations Council with its headquarters in Accra, Ghana, was established in 1952 after the Governments of Ghana (then Gold Coast), Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia enacted the West African Examinations Council Ordinances in 1951.

Liberia became the fifth member of the Council in 1974. The enactment of the Ordinances was based on the Jeffrey Report, which strongly supported the proposal for the setting up of a regional examining board to harmonize and standardize pre-university assessment procedures in the British West Africa.

WAEC is an examination board established by law to determine the examinations required in the public interest in English-speaking West African countries, to conduct the examinations, and to award certificates comparable to those of equivalent examining authorities internationally.

But speaking in an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, the Head of Public Affairs at West African Examinations Council, John Kapi, said no such decision has been made by the management of the not-for-profit organization to relocate its Headquarters to Nigeria.

“There hasn’t been any discussion in this direction. So the law that established WEAC indicates that the headquarters of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) will be situated here in Accra.

Ever since, there has not been any change to that. So, I guess that we cannot confirm that we have not had any such discussions and there are no plans as such,” the Examinations Council Public Relations Officer (PRO) said.

In other news, the Ghana National Council for Private Schools (GNACOPS) has called on the government to scrap the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) saying it has outlived its usefulness and has failed to contribute positively toward educational development in Ghana.

In an interview with Citi News, the National Executive Director for Private Schools Council, Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah, said the West African Examinations Council has failed in the organisation of examinations and must be collapsed.

“We are calling for the total scrapping of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) based on the fact that they have shown gross incompetence in terms of the delivery of their mandate

WAEC should have been able to adapt technological structures to eradicate most of these rampant issues that they have been complaining about all the time,” Mr Gyetuah told the Accra-based radio station.