WAEC gets new head, national office

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has appointed Dr. Amos Dangut as its new Head of National Office (HNO). Until his appointment as council’s head, Dangut was the Deputy Registrar, HNO’s office. His appointment came on the heels of the expiration of tenure of the council’s immediate past HNO, Mr Patrick Areghan. The appointment is contained in a statement by Mrs Moyosola Adesina, Acting Head, Public Affairs, WAEC, issued to newsmen on Monday in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Areghan, who bowed out of office on Oct. 1, came on board as HNO on March 5, 2020. Adesina said Dangut joined the council in 1998, as an Assistant Registrar (AR) II and rose through the ranks to become a Deputy Registrar in April 2018. She said that Dangut won the Nigeria Examinations Committee’s (NEC) commendation for transparent conduct of examination between 2000 and 2006. “He served as an Assistant Registrar/Subject Officer of Examinations Security and Deputy to the branch Controller, Uyo office, between January. 2005 and January 2008, Senior Assistant Registrar/Head of Examinations Security and Deputy to the branch Controller, Bauchi office between January 2008 to December 2011. “Dangut was also Senior Assistant Registrar/Branch Controller, Yola office, between December 2011 to January 2019 and Deputy Registrar/Controller, Post Examinations Department, between January 2019 to October 2020. “He was also the Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator, Ikeja Zonal Office,” she said. According to her, for the past 25 years, the newly appointed HNO leveraged Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to innovatively improve processes in Test Development, Test Administration and Post Test Activities. She added that Dangut, an astute scholar with various educational publications in international and national journals, had also presented numerous keynotes and other papers at international and national conferences/fora. The appointee, according to Adesina, is an active member of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) and the Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM). “He showed a glimpse of what he is made of, at the earlier stage of his career, during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 1991/1992, through innovative teaching and empowering farmers to improve their productivity. “Dangut was conferred with the prestigious award for meritorious service by both the Ondo State Government and Akoko South-West Local Government,” she added. Dangut was born on Oct. 2, 1967, in Mbar District of Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau State. He attended Government Secondary School, Riyom, from 1981 to 1983 and Government Science School, Kuru, from 1983 to 1986, where he obtained his WASC/SC in 1986. He proceeded to the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, where he bagged a Bachelor of Agriculture in Animal Production in 1991. He went for further studies, where he bagged Masters of Science degree in Animal Science in April 1994 from the University of Ibadan, and a PhD Animal Science, 2017, from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, in Bauchi. Dangut also obtained a Master of Education (Administration and Planning) in 2020, from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).