FG suspends plan to hike WAEC, NECO fees after public outcry

The Federal Government has suspended its plan to increase WAEC and NECO examination fees to ₦50,000 following widespread public outcry.

The Federal Government has suspended its plan to review the costs of the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination conducted by WAEC and NECO. The decision follows widespread public outcry over the proposed increase, which would have nearly doubled the current fees.

The suspension was announced on Monday, just days after the government approved a harmonised fee of ₦50,000 for both examinations from the 2027 session. The proposed increase had sparked concerns among parents, teachers and civil society organisations, who argued that it would price millions of students out of secondary education.

Under the suspended plan, NECO’s internal SSCE fee would have risen to ₦50,000 from ₦30,000, an increase of about 67 percent, while WAEC’s fee would have climbed to ₦50,000 from ₦27,000, nearly doubling the current charge. The fee adjustment was expected to widen the exposure of state governments that currently foot the exam bills of candidates in public schools, several of whom already owe arrears to the examination bodies.

The suspension is a victory for civil society and parents who mobilised against the increase. But it is also a temporary reprieve. The government has not ruled out future increases, and the financial pressures on WAEC and NECO remain. The examination bodies have long argued that their fees are inadequate to cover the costs of administering the exams, and without additional funding, they may struggle to maintain quality.

This mirrors the 2018 tuition fee hikes in federal universities, which were also suspended after protests but later reintroduced in a modified form. The mechanism was different then, but the result was the same: the government backed down under pressure, only to return with a revised proposal.

The winners: Nigerian students and parents, who have been spared the immediate increase. The losers are WAEC and NECO, which must find other ways to fund their operations, and the Nigerian education system, which faces a funding crisis that will not be solved by suspending fee increases.

Bottom Line: The government has suspended the plan to hike exam fees. Parents are relieved. WAEC and NECO are not. The question is how long the suspension will last.