Niger Govt Offsets Debt Owed WAEC

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State Government has said that it has liquidated its debt with the West African Examination Council (WAEC) even as the government has started reducing the debts owed the National Examination Council (NECO).

Both debts were as a result of the sponsorship of students of Niger State origin to write the external examinations conducted by the two organisations. The Registrar of and Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Professor Danlami Wushishi, disclosed while releasing the results of its examination last week that some states of the federation are owing the organisation the sum of N5.5 billion as a result of their sponsorship of candidates for the examination.  Wushishi did not name the debtor states.

However, the Special Adviser Print Media to Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, Ms. Aisha Wakaso, confirmed that Niger State is one of the debtor states but that the new administration in the state has started liquidating the inherited debts resulting in the payment of over N205 million to WAEC and monthly payment of N30 million to NECO.

“Niger State has cleared its backlog of debt to WAEC which stood at N205,016 million and will continue to pay NECO N30 million every month to offset its debt,” Wakaso said. 

She did not say the quantum of debt owed NECO but the Commissioner for Information, Ms. Binta Mamman, at a previous press conference had put the indebtedness at between N500 million and N600 million.

Wakaso also disclosed that samples of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses promised by Governor Bago to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on petrol have arrived the state.

The buses are to replace the fuel propelled ones in the fleet of the Niger State Transport Authority (NSTA).

The government had earlier announced that it would commit N7 billion to the purchase of 200 of such buses to ply various routes within and outside the state at subsidised rates.