Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has described the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the proposed uniform ₦50,000 registration fee for WAEC and NECO examinations as a massive victory for ordinary Nigerians, parents, and civil society groups.
The Federal Ministry of Education announced the withdrawal of the proposed fee adjustment to allow for broader consultations, following intense public backlash. The government had initially moved to raise the examination costs from the current rates of ₦27,000 for WAEC and ₦30,000 for NECO, citing the rising cost of conducting credible national examinations.
Reacting to the reversal through a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku stated that the suspension vindicated his earlier warnings that pricing public examinations out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians would worsen the country’s out-of-school children crisis and deepen educational inequality.
However, the former Vice President knocked the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for what he termed “poor planning” and a disturbing pattern of trial-and-error governance.
“The suspension is welcome, but it also raises an uncomfortable question: why must this government always wait for public outrage before correcting policies that should never have been conceived in the first place?” Atiku questioned. “Governing is not a laboratory for reckless experimentation. Sound governments consult before they decide, not after Nigerians have been subjected to needless anxiety and uncertainty.”
Atiku argued that effective leadership requires anticipating the severe socio-economic consequences of public policy before implementation, rather than relying on citizens’ protests to discover policy defects. He lamented that the proposed hike would have erected an impossible financial barrier for millions of families already heavily burdened by record inflation, soaring food prices, high transportation costs, and rising electricity tariffs.
While celebrating the relief the suspension brings to low-income households, Atiku maintained that the administration’s initial attempt to hike secondary school exit fees while simultaneously boasting about the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) for higher education exposes a fundamental contradiction and lack of clear vision in the government’s educational strategy.
Ayodele Quadri
Correspondent
