Activist and politician Aisha Yesufu has criticized the Federal Government’s decision to increase the cost of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations, insisting that Nigerian students should not have to pay for either examination.
Her reaction follows the Federal Government’s approval of a new examination fee of N50,000 per candidate for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), beginning in 2027.
The approval was contained in a memo dated June 18, 2026, signed by the Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Adeniji Ibrahim, on behalf of the ministry.
Reacting to the development in a post on X, Yesufu argued that access to quality education is a fundamental right and that the government should bear the cost of secondary school leaving examinations.
“No student in Nigeria should be paying for WAEC and NECO. Good quality education should be a right Nigerian children enjoy.
“Primary and secondary education is more beneficial to the state than the people. The cost of an uneducated populace is too high for a State,” she wrote.
The proposed increase has sparked debate over the affordability of public education, with critics warning that higher examination fees could place additional financial pressure on millions of Nigerian families.
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