HOD, Test & Development Division
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]rs Frances Iweha-Onukwu needs no introduction as a Nigerian. She is not a stranger to West African Examination Council Nigeria. Her bonding with West African Examination Council Nigeria is akin to the umbilical relationship between a child and the mother right from the womb and last all through a lifetime. Her antecedents and achievements in West African Examination Council Nigeria speaks volumes. She is a perfect example of leadership symbolism, the paragon of idealism, the soul of humanity, the heart of warrior, and a perfect woman.
Since her assumption of office, the Test & Development Division has witnessed tremendous positive changes , She is someone who appreciates her purpose in life and still understand the components of that purpose. She is one woman who has stood out among the few who had more than a fleeting nation of her sojourn on earth. She is a rare breed who viewed life solely from the perspective of his God, and knew that life’s purpose can only be fulfilled when self-will is surrounded to Almighty. A very supportive, encouraging and inspiring fellow who always sets her mind on whatever she does passionately and quietly. She is a loving, kind-hearted woman and this shows in her dealings with all that come across her, including her fellow officers. One peculiarity of Frances Iweha-Onukwu is that she operates with synergy in her relationship with not only her staff but also people who comes around her. This amiable fellow is a woman who has been identified as being effective and efficient in carrying out her official duties. She is a crusader of integrity and peace who believes in efficiency and team work as well as zero tolerance for corruption. A due process woman who believes in discipline in order to achieve productivity,reads thus:
Can we meet you ?
My name is Frances Iweha-Onukwu from Imo State , but husband is from Asaba in Delta State. I am the Head of Test & Development Division, West African Examination Council, Nigeria. I have been working with this body for the past 29years.
How can you compare the WAEC of 29years ago and that of today?
Oh! A lot has been transformed; in terms of how well the job has been done, technology, capacity building, and so many others. Most operations of WAEC those days were manually done but now, a lot of technological advancement has been made. We have moved many steps ahead of how we were 29years ago.
Highlight some of your achievements in the Test & Development unit of WAEC, Nigeria?
Sincerely, the achievements we have made here have been collective, no doubt. I wouldn’t ascribe so much to myself as an individual but I want to tell you that we have done quite a lot in the area of capacity building; we have tried to encourage our staff, train them and get them exposed to best practices in Test Development. We have been able to send them outside and within the country to interact with their counterparts (knowledge sharing), build a lot of strength, courage and abilities in them. In terms of Test Development, we have imbibed a lot of technology in what we are doing. The generation of items and compilation of Test papers are still manually done because it is a very technical area; we are skeptical about how we jump into technology in those areas so that we don’t embarrass ourselves in the cause of doing that. But relatively, we have been able to achieve much including the printing of our Test papers. Again, we have developed software for our item banking even though it is still in progress. We are also working on electronic archiving of our documents, and so many other achievements done by the Olu Adenipekun led WAEC, Nigeria. Infact, we are trying to input technology in Test Development.
Briefly tell us how technology has assisted WAEC in curbing exam malpractices.
We wouldn’t say we have curbed exam malpractices but technology has helped us in many ways to put them on the spot. First, we have customized our question paper and answer booklets in such a way that there are features on it that are so peculiar to us. If there is a form of malpractice, those features would be a guide to identify where the papers are coming from; either from Nigeria or any of the member countries. We have also included some features that will enable us to identify the owners of those answer booklets if they are smuggled out of the exam hall, we have put some features that will tell us the exact state where that paper was smuggled out from, the candidate’s name, the centre and every other information we want to get about that candidate. We have some devices like Candidates Identity Verification, Attendance, Malpractice and Post Examinations Management System (CIVAMPEMS) for examination conduct to capture on the spot any forms of malpractices in centres, book them and they are transmitted to our server online. This is so because we have had many cases of where our Supervisors are being attacked, and Appendix 27 (where we record malpractice cases) destroyed. In so doing, we lose all information about candidates who are involved in exam malpractices. So that is the essence of going into technology because even though they have access to the CIVAMPEM device, the information has already been transmitted to our head office here. Also during marking, we try to capture the marks online. We scan and the marks recorded directly into our server. We also have a device to monitor and find out when a centre colluded in objective questions. So, those days of carrying OMR around are gone. We are recently working on marking our papers electronically; we are still on the pilot study because it is a major project and we can’t just dabble into it easily. We are trying to work on the texture of the answer booklet, scanner and its features to ensure we get everything right because on the long run, we are looking at marking our papers electronically. Yes, we may still be testing manually because of the nature of the country. Nigerians don’t have so much awareness on electronic usage to be able to conduct such tests in the rural areas. One may say JAMB does CBT so why can’t WAEC conduct its exams electronically. But you should also remember that JAMB is urban-based unlike WAEC which conducts exams even in the remotest area in Nigeria. So you see that conducting electronic exams in such areas will be very difficult; even in the cities and urban areas power is a major challenge. We will still be conducting manually for now especially the essays and for the objectives maybe we will start with the private candidates’ exam which is mostly urban-based and then take it up from there.
The National Assembly accused WAEC of candidates’ failure in WAEC exam sometime ago. What is your take on that?
Of course it was obvious they didn’t have enough information about the nature of WAEC exams to ascribe that to us and it was good because other examining bodies were at that meeting too. So they actually spoke for WAEC that definitely the fact that the candidates are not doing well in exams generally is not something one would ascribe to WAEC. And again, statistics which we produced did not even show any woeful performance on the part of candidates because we brought the statistics on state basis for all the states of the federation and it was obvious that in all the states, he candidates were improving but there are some particular states which their candidates did not perform well but that cuts across all examining bodies in Nigeria and not WAEC alone. So, I think they were better information after we provided our statistics.
How do you describe the Head of National Office, Mr Olu Adenipekun?
My HNO like I have believed was God sent in the sense that we joined council the same day. We have always moved together but from the moment he indicated interest in becoming the HNO, I was convinced he will live up to expectation. Within a short stay in office, he has proved he was very well prepared for the job and from inception. He has been outstanding. He shows interest in every Division, Department, and Section. Sometimes I wonder if he sleeps because he is aware everything that happens in this council. He delegates sometimes but even as he delegates, he supervises, monitors and he is virtually always proactive. He has come with a lot of innovations and very encouraging too. I am very happy associating with his success because he is a father indeed. I must tell you I am so proud of his achievements.
There have been rumors on social media that WAEC examination questions are leaked. What can you say about this?
I like the question because there are a lot of misinformation ongoing even with all the awareness and sensitizations campaigns we have organized to educate the public, many of them seems to be impatient with the truth. WAEC papers have not been leaking. What we experience is a situation where exams commences; apparently in some centres with the connivers of some Supervisors or Invigilators they try to either bring in or send out answers to the candidates because the candidates are already with the question papers. So they have access to the papers, try to answer the questions and send them online. Why we don’t take that serious is because exams are already in progress, candidates are in the examination hall; they are not expected to come into the exam hall with phones and so are supposed to be searched properly. So if all these rules are kept, then there is no way they can send out the question papers. But again, it is those Supervisors out of greed would try to compromise. This does not worry us because majority of the candidates are already in the exam hall writing. Just recently, there was a situation whereby a subject Cost Accounting) written in a member country last year was published online on the day of Financial Accounting in Nigeria. So we still have a way of catching and punishing them accordingly.
Your legacy
I would like to be remembered as Head of Division who always ensured there was no compromise on excellence and perfection; that encourages and believes in team work.