The Executive Secretary of the Benue Education Quality Assurance and Examinations Board (BEQAEB), Dr. Terna Francis, hosted the Benue State House of Assembly Committee on Basic and Secondary Education during an oversight visit to the Board to assess its activities, examine its financial records and ensure accountability.

During the visit, the delegation toured the Board’s 72-office ultramodern complex and expressed satisfaction with the facility provided by the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia to support the effective discharge of the Board’s core mandate of ensuring quality standards in schools and the smooth conduct of examinations.

Dr. Francis attributed the improved service delivery by staff to the conducive working environment, noting that this had contributed significantly to the prompt release of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and Mock Senior School Certificate Examination (Mock SSCE) results.

He explained that the timely release of the results had enabled students to secure placement into Senior Secondary School One (SS1) and Senior Secondary School Three (SS3) at the beginning of the new academic session, a development he said had not been the practice in previous years.

According to him, the Board has continued to receive commendations from parents and learners over the early release of examination results.

The Executive Secretary also disclosed that the Board had produced the 2024 and 2025 BECE certificates, which had remained unissued since 2017. He pledged that the timely issuance of certificates would be sustained going forward.

On the rehabilitation of the Board’s operational vehicles, Dr. Francis described the task of repairing vehicles inherited from the defunct Examinations Board as challenging. However, he said his administration had remained committed to restoring the vehicles to working condition, enabling them to be deployed for the distribution of examination materials to all local government areas of the state.

Another significant achievement highlighted by the Executive Secretary was the introduction of automated payments through e-registration, point-of-sale (POS) terminals and bank transfers.

He explained that the initiative had improved revenue generation and strengthened accountability, adding that staff were no longer permitted to handle cash in the course of these transactions.

Dr. Francis further noted that the adoption of the electronic dossier (e-dossier) system had accelerated the collation and release of examination results. He said the system enabled the Board to retrieve continuous assessment (CA) scores directly from the portal, eliminating the cumbersome process of collecting the scores from individual schools before computation.

The Executive Secretary expressed appreciation to members of the House Committee for their role in ensuring the passage of the bill establishing BEQAEB and its subsequent assent by Governor Hyacinth Alia.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the House Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, Hon. Elias Audu, commended Governor Alia for providing the Board with an ultramodern office complex, describing the facility as an important investment in the effective delivery of the agency’s mandate.

Hon. Audu attributed the timely release of BECE and Mock SSCE results over the past five years to the merger of the defunct Benue State Examinations Board (BSEB) and the Bureau for Quality Assurance (BEQA), as well as the appointment of Dr. Terna Francis as the substantive Executive Secretary.

The Committee Chairman also charged the Executive Secretary to ensure that the e-dossier system was effectively deployed to curb the migration of students in Senior Secondary School Three (SS3) to so-called miracle centres.

Jeffrey Adzam

Information Officer

BEQAEB