Nigeria’s former vice president Atiku Abubakar has joined millions of Nigerians to react to the federal government’s decision to cancel the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, billed to start August 4, saying the unilateral action is not in the country’s best interest.
In a statement signed by the former vice president himself said at a time of the global COVID19 pandemic, it is understandable that an abundance of caution is put in place to save lives, but, caution, without consultation, and thoughtful action, may be counterproductive.
Atiku reiterated the fact that 1.5 million Nigerian youths write the West African Senior School Certificate Examination annually and to abruptly cancel this examination is to set back the country’s nation’s youth, placing them behind their contemporaries in other West African nations.
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In his words”…This is perilous, because Foreign Direct Investments and other economic indicators, are tied to the educational indexes of nations. Already, Nigeria lags behind other African nations in crucial indices, like school enrolment, pass rates, and out of school children. This action, will further create chaos in the public education system and exacerbate an already bad situation…”
The Turakin Adamawa said rather than cancellation, the country could mobilise all available public and private infrastructures including primary schools, stadia, and cinemas, for the examinations.
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He said In the alternative, the Federal Government can prevail on WAEC to have a staggered examinations with different sets of questions for each shift, as doing so will allow WAEC Nigeria implement social distancing and achieve the goal of carrying out the examinations, making it a win-win scenario.
Atiku urged the Buhari administration to take into account that the lives they are trying to save will be further put at risk, because if the policy is not reversed, tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, will breach social distancing rules to cross over to neighbouring West African nations to write their WASSCE, rather than miss a year.
Editor :Ena Agbanoma
