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Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the Federal Government over the recent increase in fees for Federal Unity Colleges and the reported approval of a uniform ₦50,000 examination fee for WAEC and NECO candidates from 2027, describing the policy as harsh, economically insensitive, and a direct threat to access to education.
Atiku, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the Tinubu administration was steadily placing quality education beyond the reach of millions of Nigerian families already burdened by soaring inflation, high food prices, rising transport costs, increased electricity tariffs, unemployment and declining purchasing power.
According to the former Vice President, education remains the most effective tool for breaking the cycle of poverty and promoting national development, warning that every additional financial burden placed on parents translates into more children being denied the opportunity to acquire an education.
“A government committed to the future of its people removes barriers to education rather than creating them. Education is not a privilege for the wealthy but a fundamental right of every Nigerian child,” he said.
Atiku noted that the policy comes at a time when Nigeria is already grappling with one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally, arguing that government should be investing heavily in getting more children into classrooms instead of introducing measures that could further worsen the crisis.
He warned that the increase in Unity School fees and the proposed examination charges would disproportionately affect children from low- and middle-income families, many of whom are already struggling to meet basic living expenses.
“The consequences go beyond the classroom. Every child denied education today faces a greater risk of unemployment, poverty, child labour, criminal exploitation, drug abuse and insecurity tomorrow,” he stated.
The ADC presidential candidate further argued that the proposed examination fee would deny thousands of academically qualified but indigent students the opportunity to pursue higher education, stressing that many students would be unable to afford the qualifying examinations required for university admission.
He also criticised what he described as the Federal Government’s failure to address the limited admission capacity of Nigerian universities despite the growing number of admission seekers.
According to him, while over two million candidates seek admission into tertiary institutions annually, available spaces can only accommodate a fraction of that number, leaving more than one million qualified applicants without admission each year.
Rather than expanding educational infrastructure and increasing admission capacity, Atiku said the government was introducing policies that would make access to education even more difficult.
He also questioned the administration’s emphasis on the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), saying education loans cannot solve the problem when many students may never be able to afford secondary education or the examinations required to qualify for university admission.
“True educational reform begins with making education affordable at the primary and secondary levels, expanding tertiary infrastructure and ensuring that poverty never prevents any Nigerian child from learning,” he said.
Atiku maintained that no nation achieves sustainable development by making education more expensive, insisting that countries seeking economic prosperity invest more in education, particularly during difficult economic periods.
He accused the Tinubu administration of consistently shifting the burden of governance onto ordinary Nigerians through increased costs of living, saying reforms without compassion only deepen hardship.
The former Vice President therefore called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately reverse the increase in Unity School fees and suspend the proposed ₦50,000 WAEC and NECO examination fee.
He also urged the Federal Government to convene an urgent stakeholders’ meeting on sustainable funding for public education, invest more in schools, expand educational infrastructure, recruit qualified teachers and increase the admission capacity of tertiary institutions.
Atiku assured Nigerians that an ADC-led administration would prioritise affordable and accessible education, reverse policies that deny children learning opportunities because of poverty, and ensure that every Nigerian child has equal access to quality education regardless of economic background.
