The Nigerian government has announced the indefinite postponement of this year’s West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) due to the coronavirus outbreak in the nation.
The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who spoke at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja, noted that 15 states had already commenced electronic learning for pupils on their local television and radio channels.
Nwajiuba said: “We have announced that WAEC and NECO for the year have been postponed. This postponement is indefinite at the moment. We will also be looking at what we will do for schools to reopen. As you recall, we asked that schools be vacated in the last part of March 2020 as soon as this pandemic broke out.
“We have made provisions available online. The Directorate of Information and Communication Technology in conjunction with the Universal Basic Education Commission, the coordinating agency, will anchor an alliance with State Universal Basic Education Boards in all the states so that they can key into our design.
“About 15 states have already commenced learning via different channels that are available in their states, mostly local TV and radio. All the programmes they are running are approved by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Commission.”
