The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) will henceforth cancel the entire results of any candidates who cheat in more than one subject.

In a communiqué it issued at the end of the council’s 55th Nigeria Examinations Committee (NEC) meeting, the council said it had become necessary to review its rules on examination malpractice.

The communiqué was signed by the WAEC Deputy Director (Public Affairs), Mr Yusuf Ari, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.

The meeting held from April 15 to April 17 in Lagos.

The council said that it observed with concerns the indictment of some candidates for malpractice in more than one subject in the November/December, 2012 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

``In order to check the ugly trend, the committee subsequently decided that the sanction in the council’s rules and regulations should be reviewed.

``It is clear that there is an urgent need to review the rule on such cases from cancellation of subject result to cancellation of entire results,” it said.

It noted that collusion and irregular activities, inside and outside the examination hall, were the most prevalent forms of examination malpractice.

It said that monitoring by members of staff of the council and other stakeholders and recent innovations were exposing examination cheats.

``Members believed that if the principal of a school decides that examination malpractice should not be allowed in his or her school, incidences of malpractice will be very minimal,’’ it said.

WAEC said that the NEC endorsed posting of WASSCE irregularities, special and clemency cases on the council’s website.

It said that it had been alerted of the existence of a rogue website where false questions and answers were posted daily to defraud candidates during examinations, adding that it had neutralised the activities of those operators.

It warned candidates to jettison such website.

Exam Ethics Marshals International, an NGO, on Wednesday hailed the government decision to cancel the UTME and scrap NECO.

The chairman of the NGO, Mr Ike Onyechere, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview that the decision was ``the beginning of the transformation in the education sector''.

Onyechere said that if the Federal Government would go through with the decision, ``it is a right step in the right direction.

``We, stakeholders, are solidly behind the government if it goes ahead with the decision.

``Now we can be sure that government has the intention of taking this country's education to an acceptable global standard," Onyechere said.

In a related development, an authoritative source at the Ministry of Education in Abuja told NAN that the report could not be said to be Federal Government's final decision until a white paper had been released.

The source said that what had been reported in the media was not new, adding: ``it was what was contained in the recommendations of the Steve Oronsanye-led committee report.

``The fact that the government will release the white paper tomorrow or next month does not mean it has taken a decision.

``When the white paper has been released or the government goes public with the decision, then you can say the decision is final."

The League for Human Rights, based in Jos on Wednesday demanded N100 million compensation from the Nigerian Army over the alleged ``extra-judicial killing'' of a 26-year-old NYSC member.

Only 4,522 of 55,223 candidates who applied were able to secure admission into University of Calabar for the new academic session, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. James Epoke, has said.

Epoke who disclosed this while administering the oath of matriculation on the new students on Friday in Calabar described the matriculation ceremony ``as the occasion for a privileged few".

He said the 50,701 applicants were rejected at the point of screening since the university could only admit few new students.

``Based on our quota, we could only admit 4,522 into our various departments,’’ the vice-chancellor said.

He said 3,467 of the candidates admitted were for Science-based courses while 1,055 were for Arts-related courses.

Epoke pointed out that those admitted account for about eight per cent, with about 92 per cent of those who applied unsuccessful.

He however explained that the high rate of failure was not as a result of academic defficiency.

``It was not as if all the 50,701 candidates were not admissible. Rather, it was all due to our `carrying capacity’.

``Cut-off points were set to accommodate the numbers we can carry in the different programmes,’’ the vice-chancellor said.

He noted that competition for admission was made stiffer by more subscription into the professional courses like Medicine and Surgery and Law.

 ``There were limited spaces in such programmes.

``Thus, candidates who ordinarily would have easily secured admission into other programmes are annually unable to get places in the over-subscribed courses,'' Epoke said.

He also advised candidates to diversify their interest in order to reduce frustration.

``You should regard yourselves as the very privileged `chosen few’ as it is said. In fact, `many are called but few are chosen’," the vice-chancellor said.