Peter Arotiba has been awarded the National Distinction and Merit Award by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) for emerging overall best student in the 2018 examinations.
The 18 year old who hails from Kogi State, North Central Nigeria wrote the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) at the Nigeria Air Force Secondary School, Ikeja, Lagos State.
He is currently studying Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ibadan.
He was recognised along with two others at the opening of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Nigeria National Committee (NNC) of WAEC in Abuja on Thursday.
The NNC is the highest policy making organ of the council which ensures that policies were formulated in the best interest of the council.
Arotiba was deemed best having obtained distinction in all the eight subjects offered in the 2018 WASSCE for school candidates.
EduCeleb.com reports that WAEC conducts three series of the WASSCE annually out of which one is for school candidates and the other two for private candidates.
Speaking with journalists after the awards presentation, Arotiba said that achieving success was a function of so many factors, the chief of which was God’s grace and hard work.
“A lot of heroes, who have participated in building me up to whom I am today, instilled the spirit of excellence in me – my parents, my teachers and, personal hard work.
“I have natural passion for reading, so studying was not an issue to me. When you work hard and depend on God’s grace, one will never be disappointed.
“The sacrifice made to achieve this feat was high level of discipline during examinations as I let go of other programmes I enjoyed and concentrated fully.
“I study ahead by studying during the holidays. Lazying around during the holidays and playing around with friends during holidays were some of the things I refused doing,” he said.
WAEC Head of National Office, Olu Adenipekun noted that efforts of the NNC had led to some positive changes in the education sector of the country.
Also, NNC Chairman and Director Basic and Secondary Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Binta Abdulkadir said that the council had improved on its service delivery by taking advantage of technology to improve the service delivery.
Mrs Abdulkadir said that the development had enabled the country to handle its migration from paper to electronic enrollment for its examinations.
She added that the council had also perfected its electronic portal system, an online portal which provides an avenue for the verification of results.
