The House of Representatives on Tuesday, July 2, mandated its Committee on Basic Examination Bodies to investigate the annual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collected by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) from 2018-2024.
The committee examines the financial books/records and financial statements of the Council during the period to ascertain compliance with existing laws governing the administration of public funds and reports within four weeks for further legislative action.
The committee was mandated to do the needful for WAEC to subject its year 2024 IGR for appropriation and approval.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to Investigate Administration of Public Revenues and Expenditures of the West African Examination Council from 2018 to 2023” sponsored by Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah.
The House noted that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) local is fully Treasury funded from the Federation Account.
It also noted that Section 80(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) states that no monies shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.
The House said, consequently, all funds received as examination fees from candidates for registration are considered public funds.
The House observed that the Council, in addition to its statutory allocation, obtained a credit facility of N5 billion from First Bank Limited in 2022.
It said though the credit facility was repaid within the same year, there was no full disclosure as to the purpose of the loan in its financial statement.
The House said it was cognizant that by Section 89(1)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, for any investigation, the Senate, House of Representatives, or a Committee appointed shall have the power to summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce any document or other thing in his possession or under his control.
It worried that as of January 12, 2019, WAEC has an investment of 2,974,510,000 units of shares worth N1,45,000,000 in Megatons W.A. Limited, a company that engages in the business of printing security and confidential documents.
The House said an additional investment of N32,255,000 was made in the same year, bringing the total value of the investment to N1,487,255,000 as of 31 December 2019.
However, it said, the company suddenly went into the liquidation process, and lots of provisions were made for impairment of the investment in line with Internal Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 9).
The House said it was aware that N899,375,000 provisions for impairment were made on the total investment, and it represented 60% of the total investment.
The House said this is a huge loss that calls for questions as to why a proper investment decision was not made ab initio.
The House said it was also aware that the WAEC proposed expenditure for the year 2024 is N42.9 billion, whereas its IGR projection is N32 billion.
The House said it was cognizant of the need for the National Assembly to thoroughly appropriate WAEC’s humongous IGR, scrutinize the Council’s past financial statements and debt collection from State Governments to avoid further wastage of public funds.
