Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has strongly criticised the Federal Government over what he described as a steady increase in the cost of public education, warning that the latest measures could deepen Nigeria’s education crisis and deny millions of children access to learning.

Reacting to the reported approval of a uniform ₦50,000 examination fee for candidates sitting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations from 2027, alongside the recent increase in fees charged by Federal Unity Colleges, Atiku said the decisions would place an unbearable financial burden on Nigerian families already grappling with severe economic hardship.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president argued that education should remain affordable regardless of prevailing economic conditions, insisting that governments have a responsibility to remove barriers to learning rather than create new ones.

According to him, the proposed examination fee and the rising cost of Unity School education come at a time when many households are struggling to cope with rising inflation, increasing food prices, higher transportation costs, electricity tariff adjustments, unemployment and declining purchasing power.

He maintained that asking parents to shoulder additional education expenses under such conditions would inevitably force many families into difficult choices between providing food, healthcare and education for their children.

Atiku stressed that education remains one of the most effective tools for reducing poverty and promoting social mobility, warning that policies which make schooling more expensive ultimately undermine the country’s long-term development.

He argued that every additional financial obligation placed on parents translates into more children dropping out of school or abandoning their educational aspirations altogether.

The former vice president expressed concern that the latest policy direction could worsen Nigeria’s already troubling out-of-school children statistics, noting that the country continues to rank among those with the highest number of children excluded from formal education globally.

According to him, available estimates place the number of out-of-school Nigerian children and young people between about 10.5 million and 15 million, depending on the methodology and age bracket used.

He said rather than introducing policies that could increase those figures, government should be aggressively investing in programmes capable of returning children to classrooms and expanding educational opportunities across the country.

Atiku further argued that the proposed increase in WAEC and NECO fees would disproportionately affect children from poor and middle-income homes, many of whom already struggle to pay existing school charges.

He warned that the policy could become another obstacle preventing academically qualified students from progressing to tertiary education, insisting that many brilliant students may never get the opportunity to compete for university admission simply because they cannot afford the cost of qualifying examinations.

The ADC presidential candidate also linked the issue to what he described as the broader structural challenges confronting Nigeria’s higher education system.

He noted that although more than two million candidates seek admission into Nigerian universities every year, existing institutions collectively admit only between 500,000 and 700,000 students annually due to limited infrastructure and inadequate carrying capacity.

According to him, the result is that more than one million qualified applicants are denied admission every year, not because they failed to meet academic requirements, but because there are insufficient spaces available.

He argued that instead of addressing this challenge by expanding lecture theatres, laboratories, hostels, libraries and other critical infrastructure within public universities, the government was introducing additional financial barriers that would prevent many students from even reaching the admission stage.

Atiku described the situation as a “double burden” on young Nigerians, saying millions already face limited admission opportunities while many others may now be unable to afford the examinations required to qualify for admission.

He also questioned what he called the contradiction between the government’s education financing policies and its promotion of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

According to him, education loans cannot solve the challenges confronting students who are unable to complete secondary education or pay for qualifying examinations in the first place.

He argued that meaningful education reforms should begin with making education affordable at the primary and secondary school levels while simultaneously expanding tertiary education infrastructure to accommodate growing demand.

The former vice president maintained that education should never become another avenue through which citizens bear the consequences of economic policies, insisting that countries seeking sustainable economic growth invest more heavily in education during difficult periods rather than shifting additional costs to families.

He further contended that the cumulative effect of rising food prices, transportation costs, electricity bills, healthcare expenses and increasing education fees places ordinary Nigerians under enormous financial pressure.

According to him, reforms implemented without adequate consideration for their social impact ultimately become punitive rather than developmental.

Atiku therefore called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reverse both the increase in Unity School fees and the proposed ₦50,000 WAEC and NECO examination fee.

He also urged the Federal Government to convene a broad-based stakeholders’ dialogue aimed at developing sustainable funding models for public education.

In addition, he advocated increased investment in public schools, improved educational infrastructure, recruitment of more qualified teachers, expansion of university admission capacity and policies that guarantee equal access to education irrespective of a child’s economic background.

The former vice president reaffirmed the commitment of the African Democratic Congress to policies that promote affordable and accessible education, saying an ADC-led administration would prioritise expanding opportunities for Nigerian children and ensure that poverty does not prevent deserving students from acquiring quality education