By Nse Peter
Akwa Ibom State shamefully stood out among the 19 states
of the federation that reportedly owed the West African Examination Council
(WAEC) about N4billion examination registration fees, until the state governor,
Mr. Udom Emmanuel rushed to secretly pay off the backlog of debt, Thursday.
The debt, insiders in Government House, Uyo, say was more
than N700million, was incurred by the immediate past administration of Mr.
Godswill Akpabio.
The leadership of WAEC and some top federal educators in the
country were worried about how a state as rich as Akwa Ibom could be owing examination
registration fees.
“The WAEC, during the week, threatened to withhold results
of candidates from 19 out of the 36 states of the federation over the
non-payment of N4bn examination registration fees by the state governments to
the body. However, investigations by Saturday PUNCH shared that one of
the debtor states, Akwa Ibom, had paid its debt on Thursday, bringing the
number of states owing WAEC down to 18,” says a news report published in the Saturday Punch.
“Watch out, you won’t hear them (Akwa Ibom State government)
celebrate this one (payment of money to WAEC) because they know how
embarrassing it is to owe such money in the first place,” one social commentator
in Uyo told Think Akwa Ibom!
What is there to celebrate about clearing a debt? I'm sure when his excellency has something to celebrate like job creation, youth empowerment, health improvement and so on, we will celebrate with him. We thank God that our children or youths can get to see their results after hard grafting - debt or no debt. Let's keep trusting and hoping. Positivity can be very rewarding.
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