Four officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) were on Wednesday detained over their inability to answers questions raised by House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, during an investigative hearing.
This followed a motion by a member of the committee, Rep. Uchenna Okonkwo, during the hearing in Abuja.
The committee was piqued that the officials failed to answer their questions bothering on accountability to its satisfaction.
The officials are Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Amos Josiah Dangut, who represented the Registrar; Senior Deputy Registrar, Angus Okeleze, Acting Director of Finance, Victor Odu, and Deputy Director of Finance, Segun Jerumeh,
The lawmakers, during the hearing, were engaged in a heated argument with the WAEC officials over whether the examination body was accountable to the parliament or not.
Dangut had earlier in his presentation to the committee posited that WAEC was not an agency of government, therefore not accountable to the parliament.
But the lawmakers insisted that WAEC Nigeria was a creation of an Act of the National Assembly, hence should account for all its activities to them.
They said the National Assembly makes appropriation for WAEC, adding that WAEC’s convention dictates that it must submit to the legislation of any of its member countries.
Following the arguments, Okonkwo moved, “I will like to move a motion that while pending the investigation to look into the activities of WAEC Nigeria, the invited guest before us should be taken into custody.
“They should be held at the police post while we seek solutions for these issues they are bringing upon Nigerians.” The motion was seconded by Rep. Marie Ebikake.
