Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has condemned the federal government’s approval of N50,000 as the new examination fee for WAEC and NECO, warning that it will deepen Nigeria’s crisis of out-of-school children.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Atiku said the fee increase from N27,500 to N50,000 is ‘cruel, economically insensitive, and inconsistent with the government’s constitutional responsibility to make education accessible.’ He noted that the hike comes at a time when Nigerians are battling inflation, rising food prices, transportation costs, electricity tariffs, and unemployment.
Nigeria already has one of the largest populations of out-of-school children globally, estimated between 10.5 million and 15 million. Atiku argued that instead of investing to bring children back to school, the government is implementing policies that will ‘inevitably swell those numbers.’
He emphasised that every child priced out of education today becomes a victim of unemployment, poverty, child labour, criminal exploitation, drug abuse, or insecurity tomorrow. ‘Nations do not become prosperous by making education more expensive; they prosper by making education more accessible,’ he said.
Atiku also warned that the fee hike would disproportionately affect poor and middle-income families and restrict access to tertiary education. He highlighted that Nigerian universities can admit only about 500,000 to 700,000 students annually, while over two million seek admission, leaving well over one million qualified candidates denied access each year.
Article and image source: informationng.com
