Misguided plan to raise WASSCE, NECO fees

NIGERIA’S season of policy reversals is becoming an embarrassing hallmark of governance. The latest addition is the ill-conceived decision by the Federal Ministry of Education, the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council to raise the registration fees for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO examinations from N27,000 to N50,000.

Following widespread public outrage, the authorities suspended the increase within 24 hours.

The suspension, however, is merely an afterthought designed to douse public anger. In a country where the minimum wage is N70,000 a month and about 133 million people live in extreme poverty, such a punitive increase should not be suspended; it should be scrapped outright.

WAEC was charging N30,000 before proposing an increase to N50,000, representing an 82 per cent hike, while NECO’s increase amounts to 66.7 per cent. Such disproportionate increases are unreasonable, insensitive and regressive.

Under Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, and even under his predecessor, the education sector has become a victim of serial policy flip-flops.

From the moratorium on the establishment of new public universities to the controversial decision to peg the minimum university admission age at 18 before reversing it to 16, and from the release of an error-ridden list of governing councils of universities and other tertiary institutions to its subsequent withdrawal, the sector has lurched from one avoidable controversy to another.

The proposed increase in examination fees was itself the outcome of a meeting Alausa held with WAEC and NECO in March.

The examination bodies justified the increase on the grounds of safeguarding the integrity of their examinations.

The Federal Government, meanwhile, cited prevailing economic realities, public concerns and the need for inclusive, transparent and evidence-based policymaking as reasons for suspending the policy.

That explanation only exposes the flawed process behind the proposal. The policy was misguided from conception. It amounted to putting the cart before the horse and reflected a disturbing tendency to take Nigerians for granted.

It is befuddling that a country already struggling with poor educational outcomes is contemplating policies that could further undermine access to education instead of expanding it.

Nigeria already has more than 18.3 million out-of-school children, the highest number in the world, driven by poverty, insecurity and chronic underinvestment in education. A steep increase in examination fees would only swell this alarming figure.

WAEC and NECO had already increased the fee for internal examinations to N27,000 in 2023 from the N13,950 charged since 2016. Even then, many state governments, Parent-Teacher Associations and old students’ associations had to intervene financially to enable indigent students to sit the examinations.

Education remains the bedrock of every modern society.

Sadly, in Nigeria, the constitutional guarantee of education as a fundamental right exists largely on paper. Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution provides that “government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.” Public education is therefore expected to be accessible and compulsory.

Yet, the reality is markedly different.

Unlike Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone fully pay the WASSCE fees of their students; The Gambia covers part of the fees.

Although about 15 Nigerian states also claim to sponsor candidates, implementation has been inconsistent. Only a handful have sustained the initiative, while many others intervene only selectively or irregularly.

NECO has disclosed that some state governments owe it N2 billion in unpaid examination fees and has even threatened to withhold the results of candidates in 19 indebted states.

Given Nigeria’s far larger economy and resource endowment compared with Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, there is every justification for governments at all levels to bear the cost of these examinations. It is both sound economics and a strategic investment in human capital.

At the very least, the Federal Government and the states should absorb the difference between the existing fees and any justifiable increase.

The fiscal reforms undertaken by President Bola Tinubu have substantially boosted federal and state allocations. Governments therefore have no moral or financial justification for transferring yet another burden to already impoverished families.

Significantly, while WAEC and NECO sought a steep fee increase, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board moved in the opposite direction by reducing its application fee from N5,000 to N3,500, demonstrating that cost reductions are possible with greater efficiency.

Another troubling aspect of the proposed increase is the planned migration from manual examinations to computer-based testing. If digitisation is expected to eliminate much of the logistics and administrative costs associated with paper-based examinations, what exactly justifies such a steep increase?

Education remains the most powerful instrument for national development.

Countries such as China that have consistently prioritised education now rank among the world’s leaders in technology, manufacturing, innovation and economic productivity.

Nigeria’s poor standing in global development indices is, largely, a reflection of decades of inadequate investment in education.

Therefore, rather than erecting fresh financial barriers to learning, all three tiers of government must accord education the urgency it deserves, increase investment in the sector and make quality education genuinely accessible to every Nigerian child. That is the only path to sustainable national development.