Tinubu Urged to Cancel WAEC, NECO Verification Fees

President Bola Tinubu has been urged to direct the cancellation of the newly introduced N4,000 result verification fee being charged by the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council.

The call followed the announcement by the two examination bodies of a one-off verification charge for students seeking admission into tertiary institutions with their O’Level results.

In a joint statement issued by the Head of Public Affairs, WAEC, Moyosola Adesina, the examination bodies said the initiative was designed to protect the interests of candidates and simplify the verification process.

According to the statement, candidates who successfully verify their WASSCE O’Level results through the Verification Service platform would not be required to repeat the exercise.

However, the policy has attracted criticism, with concerns that the additional charge could impose another financial burden on families already struggling with the rising cost of education.

About 1,959,668 candidates reportedly sat for the May/June 2026 WASSCE. At N4,000 per candidate, the verification fee could generate approximately N7.84bn if all the candidates are required to pay for the service.

Critics argue that students have already paid examination fees to obtain their certificates and results and should not be subjected to additional charges simply to verify academic records during the admission process.

The controversy has also renewed calls for WAEC and NECO to adopt more efficient financial and administrative models rather than continuously increasing charges imposed on students and their families.

The performance of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board under its immediate past Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has been cited as an example of how prudent financial management can reduce costs while maintaining institutional sustainability.

Under Oloyede, JAMB reduced the cost of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by 30 per cent, from N5,000 to N3,500, while the board continued to record substantial operating surpluses.

JAMB remitted N7.86bn to the Federal Government in 2017, its first year under Oloyede, compared with the N50m reportedly remitted between 2015 and 2016. By 2022, the board’s remittances had risen to N50bn.

Critics of the WAEC and NECO verification charge therefore argue that the examination bodies should explore similar measures to improve efficiency without transferring additional costs to students.

The latest controversy also comes after the Federal Ministry of Education suspended a proposed increase in school certificate examination registration fees by WAEC and NECO from N27,000 to N50,000.

Stakeholders have consequently urged the Federal Government to reconsider the new verification charge and prevent what they describe as excessive financial pressure on Nigerian families.

They argue that education should remain accessible and that examination bodies should primarily focus on facilitating access to education and safeguarding the integrity of academic records rather than relying heavily on fees paid by students.

The Federal Government has also been urged to develop a broader policy aimed at reducing the financial burden of secondary school examinations.

Advocates of the proposal want the three tiers of government to consider fully funding WAEC and NECO examination fees for Nigerian students, citing Ghana and Sierra Leone as countries where governments provide substantial support for school certificate examinations. The Gambia, they noted, provides partial funding.

State governments have also been urged to increase their investment in education and restore scholarship and bursary programmes for students in tertiary institutions.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum was similarly called upon to encourage indebted states to settle outstanding obligations to NECO. Critics said governments should prioritise payments to institutions responsible for educating and certifying Nigerian students.

While acknowledging that reducing administrative delays, simplifying admission procedures and improving the security of academic records are legitimate objectives, critics questioned why students should bear the cost of the technology deployed to achieve those goals.

They also called on WAEC and NECO to provide greater transparency on the actual cost of the verification system and justify the N4,000 charge imposed on candidates.

The Federal Government is therefore being urged to intervene and review the policy, with proponents of the call insisting that the financial burden of improving examination and verification systems should not be transferred disproportionately to young Nigerians seeking admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.