The Federal Government has approved an increase in the registration fees for the West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council Senior School Certificate Examinations from ₦27,500 to ₦50,000 per candidate.
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The new fee represents an increase of ₦22,500, or approximately 82 per cent, and will take effect from the 2027 examination cycle.
The approval was conveyed in a letter dated June 18, 2026, signed by the Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Adeniji Ibrahim, following a request by WAEC for an upward review of its examination charges.
According to the ministry, the decision followed a meeting held on March 31, 2026, between the Minister of Education and examination bodies, during which the rising cost of conducting public examinations was discussed.
The minister subsequently directed WAEC and NECO to adopt a uniform registration fee for their respective Senior School Certificate Examinations.
“Consequently, I am directed to convey the Honourable Minister of Education’s approval of the sum of fifty thousand naira only as the new examination fee per candidate, with effect from NECO SSCE Internal, 2027,” the letter stated.
The ministry also directed the Registrar of NECO to notify relevant stakeholders ahead of the implementation of the new fee.
Confirming the development, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo, said the upward review had been approved.
Although the ministry did not provide a detailed breakdown of the factors behind the increase, examination bodies have repeatedly cited higher costs associated with security, logistics, printing, supervision, technology deployment and general administration.
The increase has, however, attracted criticism from educationists, school proprietors and political figures, who warned that the additional financial burden could prevent thousands of children from low-income families from completing secondary education.
The National Mobilisation Officer of the Education Rights Campaign, Adaramoye Michael Lenin, described the increase as counterproductive and inconsistent with the government’s stated objective of expanding access to education.
Lenin warned that parents unable to pay the new fee might withdraw their children from school and send them into farming, trading and other forms of labour.
“This increase is not going to help curb the out-of-school crisis; rather, it will increase it,” he said.
He accused the government of commercialising education and demanded the immediate reversal of the fee increase.
The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, FCT chapter, Dorothy Okwuenu, also described the decision as unfortunate.
She said the increase could undermine the proposed 12-year uninterrupted basic education programme by discouraging students whose parents could not afford the new fee.
Okwuenu also questioned whether the government would assume responsibility for candidates in public schools who could not pay.
The Executive Director of Chalcedony Prime School, Abuja, Dr Mary Chinwuba, said the increase raised serious concerns about equity, affordability and access to education.
She warned that qualified students from low-income homes could be prevented from sitting for WAEC or NECO examinations solely because their parents could not raise ₦50,000.
According to her, parents are already burdened by the costs of tuition, transportation, uniforms, feeding and textbooks.
She said the increase could widen the gap between children from wealthy families and those from economically disadvantaged homes.
The Proprietress of The Winners Joy International Academy, Kubwa, Abuja, Rosemary Onyenagubo, similarly warned that education was gradually becoming accessible only to wealthy families.
She said the increase could lead to more school dropouts at a time when many households were struggling to afford food and other essential needs.
The new fee could also affect state governments that fully or partially sponsor candidates for WAEC and NECO examinations.
Such states may have to substantially increase their education budgets to sustain existing sponsorship programmes.
States already struggling to meet examination registration obligations could face additional pressure under the new fee regime.
Education stakeholders maintained that while examination bodies required sufficient funding to protect the quality and integrity of public examinations, affordability must remain central to any policy affecting millions of schoolchildren.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, described the increase as cruel and economically insensitive.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said it was unconscionable for the government to make education more expensive when families were already contending with rising food prices, transportation expenses, electricity tariffs, stagnant incomes and unemployment.
He argued that the decision was incompatible with the government’s constitutional responsibility to make education accessible to Nigerian children.
Atiku said education remained one of the most effective instruments for escaping poverty and warned that every additional financial burden could deny another child the opportunity to learn.
Amid the criticism, an old video of President Bola Tinubu speaking as Lagos State governor in 2001 resurfaced on social media.
In the video, Tinubu said his administration decided to pay WAEC fees for students after discovering that many parents could not afford charges ranging from ₦1,000 to ₦2,000.
He recalled meeting children who combined schooling with street trading and said the experience influenced his decision to approve government-funded examination fees.
Tinubu had argued that children from poor families could not become doctors, pharmacists or engineers if they were prevented from sitting for examinations because their parents could not afford the fees.
He also maintained that paying examination fees alone was insufficient without providing laboratories, learning materials and other facilities required for effective education.
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