The House of Representatives Committee on Basic Examination Bodies detained four representatives of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) following a heated argument.
The resolution of the committee to detain WAEC representatives followed the adoption of a motion moved by a member of the Committee, Hon. Uchenna Okonkwo during an investigative hearing.
WAEC officials detained were: Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Amos Dangut, who represented the Registrar; Senior Deputy Registrar, Angus Okeleze; Acting Director of Finance, Victor Odu and Deputy Director of Finance, Segun Jerumeh.
Presenting the position of WAEC Nigeria to the committee, Dangut noted that the regional examination body was not an agency of government, and therefore not accountable to the parliament like other agencies.
However, the lawmakers insisted that WAEC Nigeria was a creation of an Act of the National Assembly, hence must account for all its activities to them.
Dangut stance, however led to heated arguments between the lawmakers and WAEC officials over whether the examination body was accountable to parliament or not.
The lawmakers were of the opinion that WAEC’s convention dictates that they must submit to the legislation of any of its member countries, adding that the National Assembly makes appropriation for WAEC.
Subsequently, Okonkwo moved the motion that the WAEC officials be detained.
“I would like to move a motion that while pending the investigation to look into the activities of WAEC Nigeria, the invited guest before it should be taken into custody and held at the police post while we seek for solutions for these issues they are bringing upon Nigerians.”
The motion was seconded by Hon. Marie Ebikake.
The decision of the committee to have the WAEC officials detained led to uproar as one of the WAEC officials kept shouting at the panel that it was being unfair to them.
The officials were taken away by members of the Sergeant at Arms of the National Assembly where they were detained in one of the offices for about 15 minutes.
After which the committee held a brief closed door session, where it was resolved to allow them to go and come back at a later date with relevant documents demanded of them.
The Committee Chairman, Hon Oforji Oboku, said they must bring the audited statement of accounts of the examinations body from 2018 till date.
The committee also directed that they must present relevant documents in respect to a N5 billion loan, WAEC got in 2022 to buy a customised calculator among others.
The Chairman said WAEC cannot operate outside the supervision of the National Assembly.
Oboku noted: “You are not different from any other agency, 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.”