By Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the proposed increase in West African Examinations Council WAEC and National Examinations Council NECO registration fees, even as he declared that Nigeria cannot continue to be governed as a laboratory for reckless policy experiments.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Monday in Abuja, the former vice president described the reversal as a victory for millions of Nigerian parents, students, civil society organisations, and citizens who refused to remain silent in the face of what he called an unjust policy.
According to him, the decision vindicated the concerns he had earlier raised that pricing public examinations beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians would deepen educational inequality, worsen the out-of-school children crisis, and deny countless brilliant but indigent students the opportunity to pursue higher education.
“The suspension is welcome, but it also raises an uncomfortable question: why must this government always wait for public outrage before correcting policies that should never have been conceived in the first place?
