The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) vehemently denounces the approval of the upward review of registration fees for examinations conducted by both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) by the Honourable Minister of Education, as well as the proposal of such an increase in the first instance by the Registrars of both examination bodies.
This is cruelty in its purest form. At this critical juncture, when our nation is undergoing economic reforms that have significantly overstretched the average Nigerian, it is only inhumane to increase fees for national examinations at a time when the government should be putting measures in place to cushion the effects of the economic reforms.
It is deeply painful that the registration fees for both WAEC and NECO have now been increased to #50,000 each, bringing the total to #100,000 even before schools add their own charges. Are we now saying that children of the poor should no longer have access to education? This level of hardship is unbearable. Unfortunately, the consequences and public backlash will ultimately be directed at Mr. President, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is clearly not part of this decision-making process.
If the Federal Ministry of Education and the leadership of both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) cannot, in good conscience, make these examinations affordable and accessible to the average Nigerian student who intends to sit for them, then the very least they owe this nation is the restraint not to overstretch students and their parents, who are already bent under the weight of economic reforms. This is not the season to test how much more Nigerians can absorb. It is a season that demands relief, not another bill placed at the doorstep of households already choosing, daily, between survival and sacrifice. To increase examination fees at such a time is not merely poor timing; it is a failure of empathy at the highest level of policy-making.
The decision by the Honourable Minister of Education to approve an upward review of the examination fees was taken without due process and without due regard for the economic realities facing ordinary Nigerian students. More disturbing is the fact that this decision was made without engaging the apex students’ body, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), or consulting the leadership of Nigerian students, who will bear the direct consequences of this policy. A decision of this magnitude, affecting millions of students across the country, cannot be made unilaterally by the Ministry of Education. Anything for us, without us, is against us.
In the foregoing, we vehemently denounce the upward review of these fees and call on the Federal Ministry of Education to immediately reverse this decision in the best interest of Nigerian students and the nation at large. Furthermore, the Federal Ministry of Education must, henceforth, consult the apex leadership of Nigerian students when making decisions that directly affect them.
The leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) will continue to speak for the overall well-being of Nigerian students.
Signed:
Dist. Comr. Akinteye Babtee Babatunde GCNS
President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)
