It is hard to say which of the two major issues in the news last week is most troubling for the average Nigerian. Is it the federal government’s announcement—and subsequent reversal—of an 82 per cent increase in WAEC and NECO registration fees, from N27,500 to N50,000 per candidate beginning in 2027? Or is it the court-ordered forfeiture of properties allegedly worth N212 billion linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami? While the two events appear unrelated, they are, in fact, not only directly connected: they both reveal the moral failure of governance in this country. One case reveals the inhumanity in a government decision that would have affected nearly two million secondary school students at a time when millions of parents are struggling to put food on the table or even take transport to and from work daily. The other raises the truly sad question of how a single public official allegedly acquired properties worth N212 billion while in “public service”. In this sense, they are both different expressions of the same moral poverty and insensitivity in our governance. Consider, first, the federal government’s announcement of a N22, 500 increase in each of WAEC and NECO registration fees per candidate. It is true that the federal government has withdrawn this policy because of the heavy criticism it generated within days. Yet, the insensitivity inherent in the policy announcement cannot be ignored merely because it was reversed. Policy announcements are more than mere expressions of the government’s intentions; they are indications that the government has already done its homework on the policies announced, and is now ready for implementation. So, how did the whole idea survive the policymaking process in the first place? Was there any or adequate assessment of how the policy would impact poor households at this time? Was there any debate or discussion of the policy at the cabinet level before it was passed? Were parents, teachers, school proprietors, and other stakeholders in the education sector consulted? What did the government’s economists say about how many pupils would be forced to drop out of school altogether if the policy were to be implemented? The character of a government is defined more by the bad policies that it announces but never see the light of day. The slightest engagement with even a small sample of Nigerians and other stakeholders would easily have made it clear to the government that the whole idea would compound the hardships millions of Nigerians are currently facing. Therefore, the policy fits into a recurring pattern in which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government announces policies without taking into account the political and economic sensitivity of what they are doing before going public. The government has repeatedly demonstrated this tendency in previous polices like subsidy removal, clemency for Maryam Sanda, the Niger Republic sanctions, student loans, and so on. The moral burden of the policy is even more important, and it is not diminished by the reversal. Last year, some 1,973,253 candidates registered for WAEC, at N27,500 each, while 1,367,210 students registered for NECO at N27, 000 each. This means that, combined, Nigerian parents coughed out over N91 billion (N91,179,127,500) to WAEC and NECO to receive more or less the same service. In 10 years on current trends, both exam bodies would rake in about a trillion naira for conducting qualifying examinations for our kids. For me, that is morally unjustifiable. Yet, it is on top of these billions that the two bodies want an increase of 82 per cent. Yes, it is true that conducting examinations for such a large number of students annually can be expensive. But when just two public institutions rake in nearly a hundred billion naira annually from parents for the conduct of examinations alone, we must ask the serious question of whether conducting exams is a national service or a revenue generating business. The issue, therefore, is larger than the fee increase itself, regardless of any merits for it. I did not know that WAEC already costs as much as N27,500 per candidate, and now I think even that amount is too high. Perhaps the Ministry of Education doesn’t fully understand the social role of the school-leaving examination conducted by WAEC and NECO. These exams represent the rite of passage into formal adulthood and citizenship, the gateway into the formal economy and higher education, and the ultimate distributor of life chances. Few events shape a Nigerian child’s future more profoundly than WAEC. We all know this in our own lives. Something so fundamental to every generation in terms of citizenship, opportunity and national development cannot simply be left to the ability of parents to pay. The state must bear most responsibility for it. In other words, policy reversal is not enough. The govermment must resolve the deeply moral question inherent in WAEC and NECO fees ev
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