The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has called on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to pay the money owed the West African Examination Council so that candidates who took the exams can obtain their certificates.
In a statement on Sunday, the party said although it recognised the fact that the administration of Mr. Aregbesola was indebted to many agencies and individuals, it should pay the money due to WAEC.
“The money should be paid having allowed students in the state to sit for their papers on credit with the assurance that the state government would pay up,” the PDP said in a statement signed by its Spokesperson, Diran Odeyemi, said.
“Not paying the debt owed WAEC on time, will jeopardize chances of many students that are awaiting result of getting admission to further education Universities and Polytechnics.
“For the records, we want to inform the world that before students that sat for WAEC in public schools could sit for their practicals, they had to pay for specimens because of the refusal of the examination body to send money to schools to buy them.”
The party noted that WAEC withheld the money meant to buy practical specimens because the government owed it huge sums of money.
“If Aregbesola can no longer run the free education programme he inherited from the PDP government for about eight years with almost 80 percent passing rates in external examinations, he should not shy away from declaring a state of emergency in Education in the state,” the statement read.
“Taking exams on credit is another open disgrace Osun is witnessing under the watch of Mr. Aregbesola.”
The PDP said with teachers being owned salaries, resulting in the closure of schools in the past nine weeks, the party could only plead with the Governor to give education its deserved attention in the state in the interest of the future of the children.
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