The 63rd Annual Meeting of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has ended in Lagos, Nigeria with the election of Dr D. Evelyn S. Kandakai of Liberia as the 18th Chairman of the sub-regional organisation.
Dr Kandakai is the first female to be elected to the position in the 63-year history of the Council.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ulLeuDWcNd33yE1TuEzaTOqq3PuvOH8w”]Her election is for a three-year tenure in line with the council’s convention.
She succeeds Emeritus Professor P. A. I. Obanya of Nigeria, who was elected in March 2012.
A statement from the Public Affairs Unit of WAEC, Ghana, said the 63rd Meeting was held from Monday, March 23 to Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Governing board of WAEC
The council, which is the governing board of WAEC, rotates its yearly meeting among the five-member countries – The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
The scheduled host for the 63rd Annual Meeting was Liberia but because of the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in that country, the council’s headquarters undertook all the arrangements for the meeting on behalf of Liberia and shifted the venue to Lagos.
The meeting was hosted in 2014 by the Republic of Sierra Leone and it would be the turn of Ghana as host in 2016 and Nigeria in 2017.
Delegates from the five countries who attended the three-day meeting were made up of government nominees as well as representatives of the ministries of education, universities, secondary schools and other interest groups.
The 63rd Meeting, which was declared open by the Minister of Education, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, who was represented on the occasion by the Permanent Secretary, Dr MacJohn Nwaobiala.
In his keynote address, the minister commended WAEC for its immeasurable contribution to the development of sound education and delivering world-class services to stakeholders in the West African sub-region.
Educational standards
He described WAEC’s mandate of conducting credible examinations and maintaining educational standards as an onerous task, adding that the Council’s fight against examination malpractice was in tandem with the anti-corruption policy of the Government of Nigeria.
He promised to ensure that efforts were intensified by other stakeholders in education towards the eradication of examination malpractice.
Malam Shekarau recalled that WAEC had been in the business of educational assessment for over six decades and urged the Council to continue to collaborate with other examining bodies to enable them to benefit from its experience and expertise.
He urged WAEC to always be at its best by adopting global best practices in view of its strategic role in the human capital development process of member nations. He also advised stakeholders in education to assist in preserving the integrity of public examinations, pointing out that by so doing they would be guarding the credibility of the certificates issued to their children.
The Minister of Education of Liberia, Mrs Etmonia David Tarpeh, recalled with emotion the circumstances which forced Liberia to give up preparations for the 63rd Annual Council Meeting and expressed gratitude to the government and people of Nigeria for the assistance and solidarity extended to Liberia in difficult times.
She expressed appreciation to the management and staff of WAEC Headquarters for the arrangement put in place for the hosting of the meeting on behalf of Liberia.
Source: Graphic Online