The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) yesterday appealed to candidates to come and collect the certificates of examination they took in the past years.
Head of Public Affairs Unit of the council, Mr. Damianus Ojijeogu, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said the appeal became necessary as the council’s office was filled with unclaimed certificates and that there was need to decongest the store.
Ojijeogu said that many certificates were lying in the council’s office many years after such certificates were declared and ready for collection.
He noted that such action was causing discomfort to staff, adding that there was little or no space available to continually store the certificates.
He said: “I want to appeal to the public and the candidates concerned in particular, to make effort to collect their certificates. These things are their properties, they paid for it and they should come forward to collect them. We have made several advertorials urging them to come and collect their certificates so that we can decongest our office.”
“It is for this reason that we decided to centralise the collection point by sending some certificates to our states and zonal offices.
“It is rather strange that some candidates show up for their certificates only when there is absolute need such as going to the embassy or seeking for job or other related issues.’’
Ojijeogu said that the council was making efforts to create more awareness on the issue.
Meanwhile, he told NAN that the ongoing construction of the new multi-purpose complex at Ogba, in Ikeja would be completed by the end of February.
According to him, the complex will house a Computer Based Test (CBT) centre, multipurpose event centre and several offices.
Ojijeogu added that the council was considering a test run of the CBT centre with its 2016 November/December diet of its West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
He said that the WASSCE did not involve practical but its alternative.
