Reps ask FG to reverse decision on 2020 WASSCE

The House Committee on Basic Education and Services on Friday said the 2020 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) should not be cancelled in Nigeria.

The Chairman of the committee, Julius Ihonvbere (APC-Edo), made the committee’s position known in a statement in Abuja.

Mr Ihonvbere, a professor, said the committee was amazed at the announcement by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, where he stated that Nigerian students would not be participating in the 2020 WASSCE.

The lawmaker said the minister did not inform the country if the position was in agreement with other West African leaders or in consultation with the examination bodies, the state governments and other stakeholders in the education sector.


Mr Ihonvbere said he recalled that the minister of state for education had on several occasions during live press conferences by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, assured Nigerians that all steps were being taken to ensure full compliance with all COVID-19 protocols in schools.

“This sudden policy reversal is not good for the country; it is bound to create further confusion in the education sector, create disappointment and suspicion among parents, and frustrate the students.

“It would show our development partners and Nigerians that the distortions and disarticulations in the sector are only getting worse.

“The reversal also shows that our policy makers may just be adopting a laid-back approach to the need to confront the novel coronavirus rather than taking proactive and creative steps to manage and contain it,” he said.