While announcing the results, the Head of National Office (HNO) of WAEC, Charles Eguridu, pointed out that there was a marginal increase in this year’s performance, compared with that of 2014, when 529,425 candidates representing 31.28 percent obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics.

However, the results of about 200,000 candidates from the 13 outstanding debtor-states were initially not released. The examination body had, some weeks ago, threatened to withhold the results of candidates from 19 debtor-states that owe it about N4 billion in examination fees. Out of the 19 states, six were said to have paid their debts, while 13 are yet to pay up.

But, following the intervention of Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), and pledges by the states to pay, WAEC has promised to release the results of the candidates. It also assured the nation that it would continue to grant credit facilities to states in future examinations.

We commend the slight improvement in the performance of this year’s candidates and the timely release of results by WAEC. We advise the education authorities to continuously develop strategies to improve performance in the examinations because the 38.68 percent success rate is still very poor. It is well below average, and all hands must be on deck to improve it. Conditions that will make for better performance in the examinations should be put in place so that the cycle of poor performance in the examination in recent years will be broken. The factors that are responsible for the continuing bad performance in the examinations should be identified and corrected.

We must, however, condemn the failure of some states to pay the fees for their candidates up till now. The affected states have, by their action, indicated their poor attitude to education.

Even though WAEC has agreed to release the results of the affected candidates due to the concerns of well-meaning Nigerians, and the state governments’ promises to pay up, we urge the affected governors to prioritise the payment, and ensure that they do not allow a similar situation to arise next year. All states should remit their candidates’ examination fees as due, to avoid non-release of their results.

To improve candidates’ performance, we advise schools to prepare their students very well for the examination. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of qualified teachers in most state-owned secondary schools. There is also shortage of libraries and laboratory equipment. Most of the schools have dilapidated structures and environments that are not conducive to learning. The quality of teachers in many of these schools leaves much to be desired.

Besides, some students are not ready to learn. They waste time that should be devoted to their studies on sundry electronic gadgets. Instead of putting the Internet to good use to aid their studies, they prefer to chat , ping, play games and visit unhelpful sites. They should be guided to face their studies.

Since most secondary schools in the country fall under the purview of state governments, let the governors commit more funds to secondary school education and properly equip the institutions in terms of staffing, libraries and laboratories. They should ensure that suitably qualified teachers are employed in these schools to shore up the falling standard of education in the country.

We call on all state governors to also prioritise education at the primary school level, which is the foundation on which all further educational pursuits are laid. There should be a deliberate plan to attract brilliant students to take up teaching as a career, and to retain them in the profession, to improve the quality of candidates who are presented for the WAEC examinations.