The 60th Annual Meeting of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has ended in Abuja, Nigeria with the election of Professor Pius Augustine Ike Obanya of Nigeria as the 17th Chairman of the Sub-regional organization. His election is for a three-year tenure in line with the Council’s Convention.  He succeeds Prof. Jonas A. S. Redwood-Sawyerr of Sierra Leone, who was elected in 2009.

The meeting, which was held from Tuesday, 26th to Friday, 30th March, 2012 was declared open by His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was ably represented  on the occasion by His Excellency, the Vice President.

In a keynote address read on his behalf by the Vice President, President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated WAEC on its 60th anniversary and stated that the Council had remained a beacon of regional cooperation and integration. He noted that most educated adults in the English-speaking West African countries had sat WAEC examinations, and commended the Council for the giant steps it had taken in rendering quality service to the people of the Sub-region. The President stated that as Nigeria had always been at the vanguard of regional cooperation, the government owed it a duty to give maximum cooperation and assistance to the esteemed Council.  He urged WAEC to intensify its fight against examination malpractice, adding that the Council’s stand against the cankerworm was in tandem with the anti-corruption policy of his administration.

Council, which is the highest organ of the organization, holds its meeting yearly in rotation among the five member countries, namely, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.  The meeting was hosted in 2011 by the Government of Ghana, and it will be the turn of the Government of The Gambia to host the meeting in 2013.

The week-long meeting was attended by delegates from all the member countries.  They included the nominees of governments, representatives of ministries/departments of education, universities, secondary schools and other interests. The meeting was preceded by the 17th in the series of the Council’s Annual Endowment Fund Lectures entitled Nipping Educational Failure in the Bud and delivered by a renowned educationist, Professor Pius Augustine Ike Obanya of Nigeria.

During the meeting, Council received reports on educational activities and developments in the member countries.  It ratified decisions taken by its various committees in the course of the Council year and considered action plans by the committees and national offices for successful operations and quality service delivery in the year ahead.

Council received detailed reports from Chief Government Nominees on the efforts being made by member governments to surmount the challenges facing the education sector and to improve education in their respective countries.  It commended the member governments for making efforts within available resources to deliver good quality education to their citizens.