The Federal Government has agreed to raise the amount given to pay the registration fee for the exit Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) from the 2027 examinations cycle from Nigerian Naira N27,500 to N50,000 per candidate.
A request from WAEC for an upward review of examination fees was received and conducted at the Federal Ministry of Education where the Director of Senior Secondary Education, Adeniji Ibrahim approved the change.
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The new policy will apply to candidates taking WAEC SSCE (Internal) or NECO SSCE (Internal) from 2027 and the fee for the exams will be harmonised at N600,000. This adjustment is around 82 per cent up from the current registration fee of ₦27,500.
The ministry said the notification came after the minister of Education held a meeting with representatives of the examination bodies in Nigeria on 31st March 2026, during which the rising cost is being considered for conducting what it termed public examinations.
During the meeting the minister called for consistency among the two examination bodies (WAEC and NECO) to be achieved by adopting the same level of examination fee.
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It added that the new fee applied starting NECO SSCE (Internal) 2027 exams and said it was prohibitive and directed all education stakeholders to implement it.
According to education authorities, the audit was required because of increased operational costs attributable to the administration and logistics of delivering the national exams, security and technology, exam papers allocation, exam papers printing and administrative costs.
The announcement will elicit a range of responses form parents, students and education stakeholders. Examination bodies have suggested raising costs to support their service delivery but many families will have points to consider about the extra cost at a time when household living costs are still high.
Due to the increase in registration fees for education secondary school examinations, analysts have advised the Federal Government and state governments to explore wider scholarship programs, subsidy on exams and special financial aid for indigent students to give all who need this certification in secondary school a price at which they will not be deterred from participation.
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The Ministry of Education has not stated there will be any changes to the structure of exams or the level of assessment and it has said the fee adjustment was “purely an administrative adjustment” to support the effective administration of the forthcoming examinations.
