A bill seeking to provide stiffer penalties against examination malpractices passed second reading at the House of Representatives on Thursday.
It sought to amend the existing West African Examination Council Act, 2004, to provide penalties of up to N200,000 against offenders.
Leading debate on the bill, House Majority Leader, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, said Sections 20/21 of the Principal Act would be amended to incorporate the new fine.
From the current fine of N2,000, the amendment sought to increase it to N200,000.
Akande-Adeola added, “Furthermore, because of the high incidences of examination malpractices, Council thought it fit to amend the whole of Section 19 of the Principal Act, providing the offences constituting such malpractices to include illegal possession of examination papers.
“Having fore-knowledge of the contents of an examination paper or makes use of an examination paper or the content of it in any manner whatsoever without lawful authority.”
The majority leader also informed the House that Nigeria was yet to domesticate the 2013 Convention of WAEC.
She stated that despite being a major financier of WAEC, the country had not domesticated the convention.
She said the bill also sought to domesticate the convention.
“Nigeria is the only country out of the five countries constituting the council’s membership that has not ratified the convention,” the majority leader added.
The other countries are Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia.
The bill passed second reading in a unanimous voice vote at the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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The problem is not with the stiffness of the stipulated punishment in the existing law. Merely increasing the magnitude of fine will not magically reduce exam malpractices. What is required is strict enforcement of existing laws.
ReplyDelete200K for waec cheats while election riggers get a re-run election. Hehehehehe, funny nation but all must be well.
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