Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the federal government over the reported increase in fees for Federal Unity Colleges and the proposed uniform ₦50,000 examination fee for candidates sitting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations from 2027.
Atiku described the proposed increases as “cruel, economically insensitive and fundamentally incompatible” with the government’s constitutional responsibility to make education accessible to every Nigerian child.
In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president argued that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was placing additional financial burdens on struggling families at a time of worsening economic hardship.
He said it was unconscionable for the government to make education more expensive when many Nigerians were already grappling with high inflation, rising food prices, increased transportation costs, higher electricity tariffs, stagnant incomes and widespread unemployment.
“Education remains the greatest instrument of social mobility and the surest pathway out of poverty for millions of children from humble backgrounds,” Atiku said.
“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.”
The former vice president said the proposed increases were particularly disturbing given Nigeria’s existing education challenges, noting that the country already has one of the world’s largest populations of out-of-school children.
According to him, estimates show that between 10.5 million and 15 million Nigerian children and young people are currently out of school.
“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 said.
Atiku warned that increasing fees in Federal Unity Colleges alongside a higher cost for WAEC and NECO examinations would disproportionately affect children from poor and middle-income families already struggling to meet basic needs.
“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,” he added.
He further argued that the proposed examination fee hike would deny thousands of academically qualified but indigent students access to tertiary education.
“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 ADC presidential candidate also criticised what he described as inadequate investment in public universities, saying existing institutions could admit only between 500,000 and 700,000 students annually despite more than two million applicants seeking admission each year.
He argued that rather than expanding university infrastructure and admission capacity, the government was further restricting access to education through higher fees.
“That is not educational reform; it is the systematic rationing of opportunity and the gradual exclusion of the children of the poor from the promise of higher education,” Atiku stated.
He also questioned the administration’s promotion of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), arguing that student loans could not address barriers preventing many students from reaching university in the first place.
“A university loan offers little comfort to a child who has already been priced out of secondary education or cannot afford the qualifying examination required to secure admission,” he said.
Atiku maintained that meaningful education reforms should begin with making education affordable at the primary and secondary school levels, expanding tertiary institutions’ capacity and ensuring that poverty does not prevent children from accessing education.
He urged President Tinubu to reverse the increase in Unity School fees and shelve the proposed ₦50,000 WAEC and NECO examination fee.
The former vice president also called for an urgent stakeholders’ dialogue on sustainable financing for public education, increased investment in school infrastructure, recruitment of qualified teachers and expansion of tertiary institutions.
“Reform without compassion becomes punishment,” he said.
He pledged that an ADC-led government would reverse policies that make education unaffordable and prioritise expanding access to quality education for all Nigerians.
“An ADC-led government will not permit the implementation of this unjust and punitive increase in examination fees. Instead, we shall reverse policies that place education beyond the reach of ordinary families, expand access to quality education at every level, increase the carrying capacity of our tertiary institutions, and ensure that every Nigerian child, regardless of background, has a fair opportunity to learn, excel and fulfil his or her God-given potential,” he said.
