The Federal Government has insisted that Nigerian students would not participate in this year’s West African Examinations Council WAEC exercise due to to what it termed “unsafe atmosphere” due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

It would be recalled that last week, the Minister for Education Malam Adamu Adamu, said Nigerian schools would remain shut and secondary final year students would not write the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) until the Ministry considered it safe for such to happen.

Speaking today at a virtual executive council meeting in Abuja, Minister of State for Education, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba insisted that the government was not confident yet that everywhere is safe, as the numbers from the National Centre for Disease Control NCDC were still alarming.

He said the government was presently consulting with parents and other education stakeholders on the matter.

“We are still meeting with parents over the decision of the Ministry. What the Minister said reflects the true position of the Ministry; we are not confident yet that everywhere is safe, the numbers from the NCDC are still alarming and we have put this before parents and all the stakeholders in the Education ecosystem, we are still meeting with them. In fact, there’s a stakeholders’ meeting convened for Monday.

“WAEC on its own part is also negotiating with other West African countries to look at possible shift in date. “Once they are through with that meeting and hopefully when we are through with the consultation with stakeholders, if there’s any change in the Ministry’s position, we will communicate, but as it stands, the position of the Honourable Minister, as communicated to you last week, remains the position of the Ministry until further evidence to the contrary or further agreements that may alter those arise,” he said.