The Bauchi State government on Friday said it has uncovered massive irregularities in the list of candidates who are preparing for this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

This was contained in a statement signed by the state Commissioner of Education, Dr. Aliyu Tilde, and made available to journalists in Bauchi on Friday.

According to Tilde, a whistleblower drew the attention of the ministry to the irregularities in the list of candidates being sponsored for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) organised examination.

“Some of the irregularities include substituting the name of students who passed mock exam with the names of ineligible students that failed it,” the commissioner informed, alleging that there is padding of the list released by WAEC.

The list, according to the commissioner, contained names of candidates who are not bonafide students of the schools they claimed.

“This padding will not be tolerated,” Tilde declared.

Two sets of students, according to Tilde, will be allowed to sit for the WASSCE in the state.

These, the commissioner said, are “those who passed the mock test and their names have appeared in the list sent to the school by the ministry and bonafide students of a school who failed the mock test but have paid for WAEC registration through their school”.

Tilde, however, directed school principals to compile list of students affected by the irregularities, particularly those who passed the mock exams conducted for SS3 students by the government but their names did not appear on the WAEC list.

The commissioner stated that the ministry will carry out a comprehensive audit of SSCE candidates in every school, warning that, “whoever is found to have committed any infraction will have himself to blame.”