Atiku: WAEC, NECO fee hike may send many out of school

Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has described the recent increase in fees for Federal Unity Colleges and the approval of a uniform ₦50,000 examination fee for WAEC and NECO candidates from 2027 as cruel and economically insensitive.

Alendtrend News reports that the Federal Government recently approved an upward review of the fee for Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

The initial registration fee was N27,500.

In a statement on June 18, Adeniji Ibrahim, Director of Senior Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education, said the decision stemmed from a meeting between examination bodies and the Minister of Education, where the need to review examination fees was discussed.

He said the minister directed WAEC and NECO to adopt a uniform fee for the conduct of their SSCE examinations.

But reacting in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said it is unconscionable that at a time when Nigerian families are battling record inflation, soaring food prices, rising transportation costs, crippling electricity tariffs, stagnant incomes and widespread unemployment, the Tinubu administration chose to make education even more expensive.

He said the upward review was fundamentally incompatible with government’s constitutional responsibility to make education accessible to every Nigerian child.

He noted that education remains the greatest instrument of social mobility and the surest pathway out of poverty for millions of children from humble backgrounds.

According to him, every additional financial burden imposed on parents translates into another child being denied the opportunity to learn, dream and contribute meaningfully to society.

“A government that genuinely believes in the future of its people does not erect financial barriers between children and education. It removes them. Education is not a privilege reserved for the wealthy; it is the birthright of every Nigerian child and the foundation upon which prosperous nations are built.”

“Nigeria already bears the painful distinction of having one of the largest populations of out-of-school children in the world. Depending on the methodology and age group measured, between 10.5 million and about 15 million Nigerian children and young people are already outside the classroom. Any government confronted with such a national emergency should be investing aggressively to bring these children back into school. Instead, this administration is choosing policies that will inevitably swell those numbers.”

He warned that increasing fees in Federal Unity Colleges while imposing a significantly higher cost on WAEC and NECO examinations would disproportionately affect children from poor and middle-income families whose parents are already making impossible choices between food, healthcare, transportation and education.

“The consequences of these policies extend far beyond school gates. Every child priced out of education today becomes tomorrow’s victim of unemployment, poverty, child labour, criminal exploitation, drug abuse or insecurity. Nations do not become prosperous by making education more expensive; they prosper by making education more accessible.”

The former Vice President said the recent increase in WAEC and NECO examination fees represents far more than another financial burden on parents.

It is a systemic filter that will inevitably restrict access to tertiary education for thousands of indigent but academically qualified Nigerian students. For many children from low-income families, the journey to university does not end at the admission gate—it is terminated long before then by the inability to afford the qualifying examinations that determine their future.”

He said the contradiction becomes even more glaring when viewed against the reality of Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Atiku said the irony in the administration’s education policy is impossible to ignore.

He added that, in the view of many Nigerians, NELFUND has yet to address the structural barriers confronting access to education.

Atiku argued that education should never become another avenue through which citizens are made to bear the cost of government policy failures.

“No nation has ever taxed its way into educational excellence. Countries that aspire to economic greatness invest more—not less—in education during difficult times because they understand that human capital is the engine of sustainable development. Nigeria cannot build a globally competitive economy while systematically pricing millions of its children out of classrooms.” punishment.”

Atiku therefore called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately reverse the increase in Unity School fees and the proposed ₦50,000 WAEC and NECO examination fee and convene an urgent stakeholders’ dialogue on sustainable financing for public education.

He urged the Federal Government to invest more in public schools, strengthen educational infrastructure, recruit more qualified teachers, expand the carrying capacity of tertiary institutions and ensure that no Nigerian child is denied education because of poverty.