The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies Wednesday called for the detention of four representatives from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) over issues of accountability.
This decision was prompted by a motion from committee member Uchenna Okonkwo during an investigative hearing in Abuja.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction as the WAEC officials failed to provide satisfactory answers to their questions.
The officials in question are Amos Josiah Dangut, head of WAEC Nigeria, representing the registrar; Angus Okeleze, senior deputy registrar; Victor Odu, acting director of finance; and Segun Jerumeh, deputy director of finance.
During the hearing, lawmakers debated with the WAEC officials about the examination body’s accountability to parliament.
Mr. Dangut, in his presentation, argued that WAEC was not a government agency and therefore not accountable to the parliament.
However, the lawmakers countered, insisting that WAEC Nigeria was established by an Act of the National Assembly and must, therefore, account for all its activities to them.
They highlighted that the National Assembly allocates funds to WAEC and noted that WAEC’s.
“They should be held at the police post while we seek for solutions for these issues they are bringing upon Nigerians.”
Marie Ebikake seconded the motion.
One of the WAEC officials kept shouting at the panel that it was being unfair to them.
After that, officials were taken away by members of the sergeant at arms of the National Assembly, who detained them in one of the offices for about 15 minutes.
However, after a brief closed-door session, the committee decided to allow them to return later with the relevant documents demanded from them.
Oforji Oboku, the committee chairman, said they must bring the audited statement of accounts of the examinations body from 2018 to 2024. He also directed that they present relevant documents concerning a N5 billion loan that WAEC accessed in 2022 to buy a custom-made calculator among others.
The chairman said WAEC could not operate outside the supervision of the National Assembly.
“You are not different from any other agency by saying you are not an agency of government. We are not here to witch hunt you. WAEC is subject to Nigeria’s laws. We have reviewed the position and we have all the powers to oversight you. You cannot come here and say WAEC is not an agency of government,” he said.
He said WAEC would be invited at a later date, insisting that failure to produce the required documents would attract sanctions.