•Operators, school owners swindle parents N5,000 to N30,000 for free WASSCE certificates
By Gabriel Dike, Lagos, Scholastica Hir, Makurdi and Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Collection of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate is free. But that is only official. School owners and cyber cafe operators thought differently.
Thave turned it to money making venture. And they are raking in millions, smiling to the banks. It is brisk business for them.
Students who write the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are expected to collect their certificates free from the schools. Private candidates are expected to approach WAEC office for theirs. Candidates can also access their certificates online via waec.org and and print it for N100 or N200.
Acting Head, Public Affairs, WAEC, Mrs. Moyosola Adesina, told Daily Sun: “Collection of certificates is free. It is part of what the students pay during the registration for the examination.”
So, as new students process their admissions into higher institutions, many parents have been ripped off by the schools and cyber cafe operators. They are being made to pay for printing and collection of WAEC certificates.
In Lagos, the cost varies from N10, 000 to N30,000. Private schools in Ikotun, Agege, Igando, Ejigbo, Isolo and other areas, insist on payment before releasing the certificate.
Some officials of the Nigerian Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), who are supposed to monitor the schools in their local governments kept mute when approached about the shoddy practices. A particular NAPPS official at Ikotun told Daily Sun that the association has no control over how much schools collect from parents before giving out certificates. When reminded that the certificate has been paid for earlier during registration he refused to respond.
A parent at Ilewe, Ikotun, Lagos, Mr. Patrick Ayodele, said his son’s school asked for N25,000 before the certificate would be released to him. An ex-student of secondary school along Ijegun Road, Lagos, said he was asked to pay N30,000 for the certificate.
***At some cyber cafes, parents or students were asked to pay ***between N7,000 and N10,000to print the certificate. At Isolo, a cyber cafe operator said he collects N5,000 to print the certificate because of the amount of data used.
Mrs. Ramota Adisa, whose daughter got admission to Olabisi Onabajo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, said she paid N10,000 at a cyber cafe in Igando to print the certificate.
In Makurdi, Benue State, parents pay between N2,000 and N4,500.
Mr. Jerry Tyosase said: “I paid N2, 500 for my child in the government science school and N4,500 for the one who went to a private school.”
Mrs. Jane Anandu said in a text message: “My child wrote in 2020 (COVID-19 set). The original certificate is ready and collected at Notre Dame Secondary School. I paid N3,500 last year to collect it.”
Mrs. Ene Abutu’s son wrote WAEC and NECO in 2021. She said she paid N2,500 for each to collect the certificates. Msendoo Baki said she paid N3,000 for statement of result but has not gone back for the original result.
Mrs. Diaka said his son wrote in 2022: “He paid N3,000 to collect the statement of result. He has the pin but he has not printed the original certificate.” Mr. Emmanuel Ugwuoke’s daughter attended a Catholic school. He said he printed the original certificate at a cyber cafe for N4,500.
Principal, Lady Victoria Academy, Makurdi, Mr. Emmanuel Samashegh, admitted: “WAEC certificate is collected free of charge. We collect just N2,000 for statement of result and N3,000 for the original certificate.
“We normally tell the students that it is free but we charge that token because we keep it for quite sometime like a year or more. The children pay this fee at the time of registration. When they come to pick it, they don’t pay any money for it again. It’s not a penalty but a token to take care of some expenses.”
At a cyber cafe in Makurdi, the operator, Sunday Ortese, told our Correspondent that they collect N4,500 to print the results for the students: “We pay N3,500 into WAEC account, N500 is for bank charges and N500 is my charge at the cafe.”
NAPPS chairman, Makurdi Local Government chapter, Pastor Daniel Pever, said: “Private schools spend a lot of money during the exams, sending our principals to WAEC office to collect results and other expenses. That is the way we try to get the money back.
“These private schools were approved by the government but they don’t assist us to run the schools. We only pay taxes to the government. If the schools do not charge those fees, those coming from far local governments like Vandeikya, Katsina Ala, Otukpo to Makurdi to collect the certificates, where will the school get the money to sponsor that trip?
“The charges are to take care of the running costs to collect the certificates, go back to school and give to students. It is not for the certificates. No school asks the students to pay for WAEC or NECO certificates. It is given free.”
He explained why the running costs are not uniform: “Sometimes, they come to WAEC office it happens the WAEC staff or the person in charge is not available. You have to sleep in a hotel or go back to your local government and come back the next day.
“At other times, parents come to ask for certificates during closing hours. You have to recall the staff in charge or your principal to go back to school to attend to them. He takes a bike or bus. All these expenses need to be taken care of. The charges are just a token, an appreciation fee to enable the school take care of these handling expenses.”
In Kaduna State, a parent, Ms. Jessica Bartholomew, said she had to cough out N10,000 for her daughter’s WAEC certificate after the school authority threatened her:
“After they threatened my daughter, because I didn’t understand why I was to pay another money after paying N27, 000 for WASSCE registration.” Ehis Agbon said his daughter “paid N3,000 for WAEC certificate and testimonial.”
A cyber cafe operator, Muhammed, said: “We don’t really charge for the certificate. You only buy N5,000 scratch card to access your certificate. We only charge for printing depending on the quality of paper you want.”
A proprietor who spoke in confidence disclosed that private schools charge between N3,000 and N10,000 to augment some expenses” “Quality Assurance unit under the Ministry of Education is charging private school renewable N50,000 – N500,000 before your school registers for WAEC or Basic (junior WAEC) without any consideration.
“That money is different from the grand rent. Now, we have been paying that money even when we are helping the government to educate and employ its citizens. We don’t see anything they do with those monies in our schools.
“Mind you, you cannot get the original certificate with the WAEC zeal online. You can only get it in the school. So, the small money we charge is just to augment our expenses to the government, which we must do annually before we can register our students for these examinations.”