I worked in Nigeria from 1964 to 1988 and retired as dean of a faculty in one of the higher educational institutions. My three children were born and educated in Nigeria. My sons did medicine and engineering from Nigerian universities and are settled in the USA and Canada.

My daughter did her West African Examination Council (WAEC) General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level from Nigeria in 1985 and shifted to Karachi. She did her B.Sc. and MCS from Karachi University in 1995. She has been working in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia since 1995.

This year the Saudi authorities are asking for the verification of her higher degrees from the HEC, the Pakistan foreign ministry and the Saudi Embassy in Pakistan.

As a first step I contacted the OCS courier who wanted me to submit her Matric Certificate or an equivalence certificate from the IBCC Islamabad headquarters.

I contacted the IBCC Karachi office on 10th June, 2014. They asked for the verification of her WAEC certificate from the issuing office in Nigeria. The IBCC Karachi office wrote a letter on 14th July, 2014 and a reply is awaited from Lagos. It is 26 years since I left Nigeria and the situation in that country has taken a turn for the worse.

My point is that she should have been asked for an equivalence of her WAEC certificate 29 years ago, before she was allowed to do her F.Sc. by the Karachi Inter Board. Her two degrees have been verified by Karachi University. Now if her MCS degree is not verified by the HEC it will cause her many problems and she will not be allowed to continue to work in Saudi Arabia, causing her personal loss.

She has been asked by the Saudi authorities to submit the documents by the middle of September 2014. Is there a way to verify her higher education documents?

Jawaid-ul- Haq
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2014