Piqued by the failure of some state governments to pay the West African Examinations Council the fees for sponsored candidates from their states for the Council’s 2014 examination and the refusal of the latter to release the candidates’ results, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has urged the affected states to promptly pay up in order not to disorient and dampen the hopes and aspirations of the candidates.
The Congress asserted this in a press statement signed by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and Secretary General, Comrade Musa Lawal.
The TUC wondered why politicians who promised heaven on earth during their campaigns do otherwise after assuming office.
They cautioned that it is irrational for state governments to put candidates resident in their states at risk of having their results withheld and losing their prospects for admission into tertiary institutions of learning in the forthcoming academic year by neglecting or reneging on their pledges to pay the WAEC fees.
The statement said: “While we appeal to WAEC to stay action on its threat, we also urge the states involved to make the payments immediately. The nation cannot afford to deny over 600,000 potential students admission into various institutions at a time when we are spending billions if not trillions of naira to fight insecurity. An educated mind is liberated and reasonable. Thus it pays us to educate our youths if we must build a strong nation. If we must stop running to the west for loans and grants to revive our industries every now and then, the leadership must stop paying lip service to education.”
The TUC called on WAEC to publish the names of the defaulting states and take legal action against them to serve as deterrence in future.
It added: “After all it is not the fault of the candidates, so they should not be made victims of the failings of their state governments.”
The Congress charged well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the state governments to come to the aid of the innocent candidates and emphasized that the less privileged must not be at the mercy of the privileged few.
“Save the future of the leaders of tomorrow,” the statement concluded.
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