President Bola Tinubu has been urged to cancel the N4,000 result verification fee introduced by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
The call was made by the PUNCH Editorial Board, which described the fee as an additional burden on students and families already struggling with the rising cost of education.
WAEC and NECO recently announced the one-off fee for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions with their O’Level results.
The examination bodies said the policy would simplify the verification process and prevent candidates who have already verified their results from repeating the exercise.
However, the editorial board criticised the policy, arguing that it would make access to higher education more expensive for Nigerian students.
It noted that 1,959,668 candidates sat for the May/June 2026 WASSCE, meaning the N4,000 charge could generate about N7.84 billion if applied to all candidates.
The board urged WAEC and NECO to improve their financial management rather than impose additional costs on students.
It also called on the Federal Government and state governments to increase funding for education, restore scholarships and bursaries, and consider fully funding WAEC and NECO examination fees for Nigerian students.
The editorial board argued that while improving the security and integrity of academic records is important, students should not bear the cost of systems introduced by examination bodies.
It therefore urged President Tinubu to stop the proposed verification fee, warning that additional charges could further discourage children from low-income families from pursuing education.
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