The 70th Annual Meeting of The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has ended with the election of the Head of the Nigeria Delegation, Hajiya Binta Abdulkadir, as the Vice-Chairman of Council for a one-year tenure. She succeeds Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa of Ghana.

The meeting, which was hosted by the Government of Nigeria from Monday, March 14 to Friday, March 18, 2022, was formally opened by His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was represented by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

In his keynote address, President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed the delegates and said that the Government and people of Nigeria were happy to host the meeting in view of the important role of WAEC in educational development in Nigeria. He stated that the survival and future successes of all institutions, including WAEC, would depend on how well they embraced technological innovations and their ability to reinvent themselves in the ever-changing world.

He emphasised that though WAEC had over the years demonstrated the capacity and dynamism to evolve and remain relevant in an aggressively mutating world, it should embrace more innovations across the board. While acknowledging WAEC’s contributions beyond being an examination body, President Buhari noted that the Council had in the last 70 years contributed to the promotion of sustainable human resource development, integration and cooperation among West African States.

He added that currently, more than 90% of educated adults in the English-speaking West African countries were products of WAEC. The President stated that since its inception in 1952, WAEC had faced its challenges forthrightly, resolving issues of examination malpractice and evolving steadily and confidently into a more technology-driven organisation.

He advised the Council to commence preparations for the future, as the decades ahead would come with vastly different challenges and opportunities.

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