WAEC, NECO Fee Hike: Atiku Blasts Tinubu, Says Policy Will Push More Children Out of School

 Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress,
ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the recent increase in fees for Federal
Unity colleges and the approval of a uniform N50,000 examination fee for
candidates sitting the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, and National
Examinations Council, NECO, examinations from 2027.

 

Atiku described the increments as cruel and economically
insensitive.

Recall that the initial registration fee for the
examinations was N27,500 before the Federal Government approved an increase to
N50,000 for candidates sitting the Senior School Certificate Examinations,
SSCE, conducted by WAEC and NECO.

The approval was conveyed in a memo dated June 18, 2026,
signed by the Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of
Education, Mr. Adeniji Ibrahim, on behalf of the Minister of Education.

Reacting via 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.

“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.

“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.

“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,” the statement reads.

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