The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has assured the public particularly Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates that the 2024 BECE will proceed as scheduled.

This assurance follows earlier concerns about the exam body owing their suppliers, potentially impacting exam operations.

Spokesperson for WAEC, John Kapi confirmed that they have received a warrant of ₵47.125 million out of the over ₵94 million owed.

He emphasised the urgent need for the remainder to be deposited into their account by the end of this week to facilitate prompt preparations.

Speaking to JoyNews, Mr Kapi stated, “So, we expect that at least if by the close of this week, the money hits our account that would be good enough to enable us to give out money to people we are going to have to use for the examination because of the urgency of the situation so we get the money in good time”.

He further urged for the prompt payment of the remaining funds to prevent delays in marking and the release of results.

According to him, while the released funds will enable them to conduct the examination, WAEC still requires additional funds to process and release the results.

“When we are done with that we would think about the suppliers and see how much we can pay them while we wait for further funds to be able to clear our indebtedness to them,” he said.

The examinations council says it is hoping to deploy its staff by July 4.

“We will deploy our staff by the 4th of July. Our vehicles are going to start moving, and staff will also start moving on the 4th of July. We believe that if they can process the money before the 4th of July, we would be in a position to conduct the examination as we have stated,” he explained.

The examination is scheduled to commence on Monday, July 8 and end on Monday, July 15, 2024, at all centres across the country.