The Head of Nigeria National Office of West African Examination Council (WAEC), Patrick Areghan, says 10 supervisors have been arrested for alleged involvement in examination malpractices in the ongoing Senior Secondary Certificate Examination in the country.

Areghan, who disclosed this during supervision of the examination in four centres in Abuja on Thursday, said the arrests were made in Lagos, Kano, Beyelsa and Kaduna states.

“Our major problem lies with the supervisors as only few of them are reliable and it’s unfortunate these are the supervisors that were nominated by the various states’ ministry of education and we employed them. We don’t have the power to nominate any supervisors on our own we only made use of credible teachers supplied to us by the ministry,” he said.

He added, “But for a mere pot of porridge, they sell their conscience and allow candidates to come into the examination hall with phones to snap question papers and post them on designated platforms.”

He noted that some of the supervisors belonged to syndicate groups that run the platforms, saying, “The good news is we catch them and they don’t go unpunished as we are working hand in hand with the Nigerian police.”

While condemning the act by schools who swindled money out of some candidates and didn’t enroll them, he said it was not the fault of WAEC that they were not enrolled.

The WAEC head, who is impressed with the process, however advised candidates to desist from examination malpractice, saying those who smuggle text books into examination halls or indulge in impersonation would not get their results.

He said, “The most troubling one is the activities of roadside website operators whereby they post their so called expo on digital platforms and use it to deceive gullible candidates and parents who pay for their wards to access these platforms. They are fake and even if they are not, when will they have time to access those materials as examination is already going on.”

The Permanent Secretary at Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, expressed satisfaction with the process and the deployment of technology in the authentication of candidates saying that had reduced malpractice.

He said, “Malpractices can occur in the examination centres with the collision of the school authority and biometric machines have reduced malpractice to infinitesimal, I will be surprise if I hear of any malpractice.”

The principal of NTIC, Muazu Omeji, said adequate preparation and having a enough qualified teachers is a prerequisite to tackle malpractice.

He said their students have adequate preparation and there will not be reason to cheat in examinations as they have been participating in examination since the school’s 24 years of existence and have not been found wanting. (Daily Trust)