WAEC ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING ENDS IN ACCRA
PRESS RELEASE
WAEC ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING ENDS IN ACCRA
From Left to Right: Prof. (Nana) Appiagyei Dankawoso I, the Non-Council Member representing Ghana on the Board of Trustees of the WAEC Endowment Fund; Dr. Clement Apaak, the Deputy Minister of Education, Ghana; the Vice President of Ghana; the Chairman of Council, Prof. Thomas B. R. Yormah; the Registrar of WAEC, Alhaji Pateh Bah; the CGNs of Liberia, Ghana and The Gambia during the Formal Opening.
The 74th Annual Council Meeting of The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has ended in Accra, Ghana, with the election of Ghana’s Chief Government Nominee on Council, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, as Vice Chairman for a one-year tenure. He succeeds Honourable Amos Armah Fully of Liberia.
The meeting, which was held from Tuesday, 24th to Saturday, 28th March 2026, was declared open by His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Ghana, who was ably represented by Her Excellency, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana.
In a keynote address, President Mahama congratulated WAEC on its 74th anniversary and stated that the government and people of Ghana are deeply honoured to host the 74th Annual Meeting of the West African Examinations Council. He also commended the member governments of WAEC for their efforts to sustain this great institution and lend credibility to their assessment efforts. He further stated that his government will continue to collaborate with other member governments to provide the necessary support to build strong structures and enhance operational efficiency and sustainability.
He noted that the West African Examinations Council has remained, for more than seven decades, one of the most successful examples of regional collaboration on the African continent. As an assessment body, the Council has made significant strides in upholding educational standards through credible examinations.
Continuing, he averred that countless citizens of the West African Sub-region, holding enviable positions, are products of the rigorous and trusted systems that WAEC have put in place.
The President commended the Council for the innovative mechanisms it has put in place to maintain fairness, transparency, and integrity in its examination process.
He, however, stressed that the surge in examination malpractice threatens to erode these enviable goals. He added that the plethora of fraudsters, all too ready to falsify results and alter certificates, threatens the very core of WAEC’s mandate.
He warned that if care is not taken, the Council risks losing its credibility to these fraudsters. Adding that this unfortunate development is not a challenge to be surmounted by the Council alone, and called on all people who have truth, honesty, and integrity as our core values to collectively defend the credibility of the Council’s examinations by saying no to malpractice and yes to integrity.
In his speech, the Honourable Minister of Education, Ghana, Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, who was represented by the Deputy Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Clement A. Apaak, acknowledged the critical role examinations play, not only as a means of screening candidates for further educational advancement, but more importantly, as an instrument for honing the intellectual and practical skills that are essential for developing the human capital required to drive the service and productive sectors of member states’ economies. He also acknowledged that the international version of WASSCE conducted by WAEC has more inclination towards credibility, comparability, regional collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the impact on students’ competitiveness within the sub-region and therefore, in accordance with the President of Ghana's directives, the Ministry of Education has reinstated Ghana’s participation in the international version of WAEC’s WASSCE for School Candidates, beginning with the 2026 diet, alongside other member countries.
At the formal opening of the meeting, Council honoured three Ghanaian candidates with the WAEC International Excellence Award for their outstanding performance in WASSCE for School Candidates, 2025. They were Miss Huda Suglo Suleman (1st Prize), Miss Paula Adzo Elinam Suwo (2nd Prize), and Miss Matthea Aba Andoh (3rd Prize). The three candidates were selected from 2,612,830 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, 2025, also went to Miss Huda Suglo Suleman.
On the same August occasion, the prestigious award of Distinguished Friend of Council was conferred on an eminent citizen of Ghana – Professor William Afiakwa Asomaning – for his immeasurable contributions towards the achievement of the Council’s objectives. Council, which is WAEC’s governing board, holds its meeting yearly in rotation among the five member countries, namely: The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The 73rd Meeting was hosted in Monrovia in 2025 by the Government of the Republic of Liberia, and, at the invitation of Nigeria’s delegation, the 75th edition will be hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria in March 2027.
The meeting, which lasted for a week, was attended by delegates from all the member countries. They included government nominees, representatives of ministries/departments of education, universities, secondary schools, and other interest groups. The meeting a l s o w i t n e s s e d the 31st in the series of the Council’s Annual Endowment Fund Lectures entitled, “Fostering Assessment Integrity within the Context of Credentialism”, delivered by the Technical Advisor to Honourable Minister of Education, Ghana – Professor George K. T. Oduro.
In the course of the meeting, Council received reports on WAEC’s operations in the preceding year as well as information on educational programmes and developments in the five member countries. Council also ratified the decisions of its various committees made in the previous year and considered action points from the national offices to strategically position them to meet the yearnings and aspirations of stakeholders in their respective domains.
Council received with acclamation the Registrar’s Annual Report for the Period April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, and a report from the Research Department of WAEC.
At the end of the week-long meeting, the Chairman of Council, Prof. Thomas B. R. Yormah, expressed appreciation to the Government and good people of Ghana for the warm hospitality accorded the delegates and for their contributions in ensuring the successful hosting of the meeting.
Demianus G. Ojijeogu, anipr Head, Public Affairs WAEC Headquarters, Accra, Ghana For: The Registrar April 1, 2026
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