Former Head of Scripts Room at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Ms Sandra Nimi Harry, has lost her bid to have her dismissal from office overturned and to be reinstated.
The Senate, on Thursday, rejected her appeal and upheld her dismissal.
Harry, who served for 31 years from July 1992 to July 2023, was dismissed by WAEC for allegedly “smuggling examination answer scripts of candidates who were not present during the WAEC private candidates’ examination into the envelopes of genuine candidates who sat and wrote the examination in Port Harcourt.”
Three committees set up by WAEC to investigate the matter, according to the Senate, found her and two other accomplices culpable and accordingly recommended their dismissal.
However, Harry had petitioned the Senate, alleging “wrongful dismissal” and urging the Senate to intervene by asking WAEC to reinstate her and pay all her outstanding salaries and allowances.
The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, which reviewed her petition, established that the dismissed officer committed the act, having admitted before the committee to being the head of the scripts room and liaising with two other employees.
In her testimony before the committee, Harry denied any wrongdoing, claiming not to have been indicted by her colleagues during WAEC’s investigation.
The committee, chaired by Senator Neda Imasuen, had recommended to the Senate that her dismissal be reduced to retirement, in consideration of the 31 years she had put into service.
It recommended that the reduced punishment would enable her to receive her retirement benefits instead of losing all 31 years of service.
However, the Senate rejected the committee’s recommendation on the grounds that the investigation had indeed confirmed the offence took place.
Several senators, commenting on the committee’s report, noted that the Senate would be tarnishing its image by recommending that an officer who admitted to an offence should be pardoned with a lesser punishment.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole, for instance, said that although he had spent his life defending the rights of workers, in Harry’s case, he supported the Senate’s decision to reject the committee’s recommendation.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, observed that the Senate would be setting a “dangerous” precedent by converting the punishment to retirement.
“Are we now suggesting that once people serve up to 31 years in service, they are free to commit any offence and get away with it?
“It is the decision of the Senate that the dismissal stands. So, the petitioner, Harry, stands dismissed,” Akpabio ruled.
ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE