By Chinyere Nwachukwu
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has urged retired members to continue to partner with it in sharing knowledge and experience, as well as in the fight against examination malpractice.
Mr Patrick Areghan, Head of National Office (HNO), gave the charge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday.
He spoke on the sidelines of the investiture of the new Board of Trustees of the WAEC Nigeria Pensioners Welfare Association, in Lagos.
The occasion also saw the inauguration of 16 new members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the association.
According to Areghan, who was the chairman at the event, the retirees remain an integral part of the council in driving and achieving its goals, irrespective of their disengagement from active service.
He said that their wealth of experience must be ploughed back into the council, no matter where they may be, in a bid to ensure that it remained a force to reckoned with in the country’s education system.
The national office head urged the retirees to always ensure that they find time to go to schools closest to them and monitor council’s examination, as part of ways to check malpractice.
“I want to say I feel happy seeing our retired daddies and mummies who have served this council meritoriously in their active days.
“They had all given their best in the service of the Nigerian child. Now they have decided to form a more robust association to advance the cause of this organisation in a way, and also to take care of themselves.
“Having said this, I want to urge them to continue to join hands with the council in the fight against examination malpractice, which has been one of our great challenges.
“Their wealth of experience matters a lot to us and we do not take that for granted. We want them to always remember the need to ensure that the integrity of this examination body is never compromised,” he said.
Areghan said the council would always rely on them for advice on ways of getting greater achievements.
“We will like to see a situation whereby they can walk in to any nearby school during our examinations, whether the school examination or any other one, and check out what is happening there.
“They should see it as a point of duty to go out round the various centres and carry out inspection or monitoring.
“Doing this will also mean that they are contributing to the development of the nation by way of tackling examination malpractice,” the WAEC boss said.
He said that praying for the success of the council and its staff was also one of such critical contributions expected from the retirees.
According to him, prayers, just like any other valuable element, from not just the retirees, is key in all human endeavours.
He urged them to continue to remain steadfast in prayers, describing this as the greatest gift anyone could give to another.
“ We want them too to continue to pray for us, which we know they do, giving us pieces of advice on how to do it and even do it better.
“The should bequeath that experience, that knowledge to the younger ones so that they will be able to do better and even surpass their own achievements.
“So, having said all these, I want to say I am indeed very happy that I am part of this history making ceremony because anybody that is serving an organisation looks forward to retirement some day.
“WAEC being one of the best places to work, I cannot but be just glad to be among them as the chairman of this occasion.
”Personally, I will be exiting soon and looking forward to joining them too. That is why it is of great importance to me, than how ordinarily it would have been if I was not exiting my position soon.
I am indeed also happy seeing them and I know they too are, especially having heard of the great things happening here under my watch,” he said.
On his part, Mr Magnus Omoregie, a retired Director of the council’s Information and Communication Technology Division (ICTD), lauded the HNO for his lofty contributions to the development of the council.
He also commended him for the care and support shown to members of the association, while assuring him of their readiness in partnering with the council to move it to greater heights.
Giving an overview of the association, Omoregie said that the new dispensation of the WAEC Nigeria Retirees Association started with the setting up of a social media group platform, on June 23, 2020.
He said that it included several retirees of WAEC from Nigeria domiciled in various states across the country and many residing in different countries across the world.
According to Omoregie, who is the outgoing head of the interim management committee of the association, the main objective of the group is to cater for the welfare of its growing membership.
He said this was particularly those who were up to date with their financial membership.
He said that some of the welfare benefits of the financial members at the national level had been spelt out by the revised edition of the association’s constitution.
Omoregie, however, said this may require a review from time to time, for them to be in tandem with economic realities.
“I want to seize this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who have played an instrumental role in our collective success.
“It is through your unwavering commitment, tireless efforts, and unyielding passion that we were able to achieve some significant milestones and solidify our position as a leading gathering of eminent senior citizens of this great organisation, WAEC.
“Our triumphs would not have been possible without the dedication, commitment, creativity, and relentless pursuit of excellence by our team and the general membership of the association,” he said.
He urged the incoming executives to lead by example by demonstrating integrity, transparency and ethical decision-making in all their endeavours.
The high point of the occasion was the investiture of the board of trustees members and the swearing- in of the new executives of the association.
Omoregie, Mr Solomon Bamidele, Mrs Mabel Ojeikere, among others, are members of the board of trustees that were sworn in.
Meanwhile, a total of 16 newly elected national executive committee members of the association were also inaugurated.
Among them are Mr Patrick Modebe as President, Mr Yusuf Ari as Vice President, North East and Mr Emmanuel Dogo, Vice President, North West. (NAN)
