The West African Examination Council (WAEC) during its 71st Annual Council meeting in The Gambia conferred excellence awards on two students from Ghanaian and one from Nigeria.
The WAEC International excellence award was bestowed on the students at the formal opening of the meeting for their outstanding performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, 2022.
At the formal opening of the meeting, Council honoured three candidates with the WAEC International Excellence Award for their outstanding performances in the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2022.
The awardees were Master Alex Opoku Manu, a Ghanaian (1st Prize), Master Benjamin Eyram Nana Kwame Degbey, a Ghanaian (2nd Prize), and Miss Chioma Blessing Obidigbo, a Nigerian (3rd Prize). The three candidates were selected from a total of 2,276,112 candidates who sat the examination in The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The Augustus Bandele Oyediran Award for the Best Candidate in West Africa, 2022 also went to Master Alex Opoku Manu.
Similarly, the prestigious award of Distinguished Friend of Council was conferred on an eminent citizen of The Gambia namely Mr. Karamo S. Bojang for his outstanding contribution towards the achievement of the Council’s objectives.
While the Chief Government Nominee of The Gambia on Council, Mr. Ebrima Sisawo, was elected as Vice-Chairman of the Council for a one-year tenure. He succeeds Hajia Binta Abdulkadir of Nigeria.
During the meeting, Council received reports on WAEC’s operations over the past year as well as briefings on educational activities and developments in the member countries and also ratified the decisions its various committees took in the preceding year and considered action plans from the country offices for successful operations and quality service delivery in the year ahead.
For example, Council ratified the 2023-2027 WAEC Strategic Plan and urged Management to leave no stone unturned in its implementation.
Council received with acclamation the Registrar’s Annual Report for the Period April 2022 to March 2023 and a report from the Research Department of WAEC and urged that stakeholders should endeavour to disseminate the research findings to avail policymakers of information necessary for the improvement of education in the sub-region.
The celebration of WAEC Day which coincided with the Annual Council Meeting was marked with the cutting of the 71st Anniversary Cake by the Chairman of the Council, the Registrar to the Council, and all Council Members
At the end of the week-long meeting, the Chairman of the Council, Prof. Ato Essuman, expressed profound gratitude to the governments of the five-member countries for the confidence reposed in WAEC and for providing the enabling environment in which the Council had executed its mandate creditably for 71 years.
He thanked the President of the Republic of The Gambia for attending the occasion himself saying that it was unprecedented. He expressed special appreciation to the Governments of Nigeria.
