Tinubu will send more Nigerian kids out of school, Atiku slams WAEC fee hike 

By Kingston Magare 12.7.2026
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raked the Federal government’s reported increase of Federal Unity Colleges fees and a uniform ₦50,000 examination fee for West African Examinations Council WAEC and National Examinations Council NECO candidates.
Nigerians burden by over taxation have been angered by the increases, which they see as another government insensitive policy aimed at further impoverishing them.
According to Atiku who is the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate for the 2027 elections, the new increase will further compound Nigeria’s educational crisis, which has already thrown about 15 million children out of school.
“Nigeria already bears the painful distinction of having one of the largest populations of out-of-school children in the world. Depending on the methodology and age group measured, between 10.5 million and about 15 million Nigerian children and young people are already outside the classroom,” Atiku said in a statement signed by his media aide Phrank Shaibu
“Any government confronted with such a national emergency should be investing aggressively to bring these children back into school. Instead, this administration is choosing policies that will inevitably swell those numbers.”
He added that President Tinubu’s administration has progressively made access to tertiary education hard for the average Nigerian family.
“The same administration whose policies are progressively narrowing access to public tertiary education continues to project the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as one of its flagship achievements.
“Yet a university loan offers little comfort to a child who has already been priced out of secondary education or cannot afford the qualifying examination required for admission. A government cannot credibly claim to be expanding access to higher education while simultaneously erecting financial barriers that prevent millions of young Nigerians from ever reaching the university gates.
“No nation has ever taxed its way into educational excellence. Countries that aspire to economic greatness invest more—not less—in education during difficult times because they understand that human capital is the engine of sustainable development. Nigeria cannot build a globally competitive economy while systematically pricing millions of its children out of classrooms.”