FG cuts N1,500 from UTME, SSCE, JSCE fees

The Federal Government yesterday announced the reduction of N1,500 from the fees being charged for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) and the Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE).

The reduction was announced at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the State House Villa, Abuja.

While the UTME is being conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the SSCE and JSCE are conducted by National Examination Council (NECO).

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting, said the reduction will be effective from January next year.

“Accordingly, from January 2019, JAMB fee has been reduced from N5,000 to N3,500, the SSCE charged by NECO has been reduced from 11,350 to N9,850 and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) handled by NECO is reduced from N5,500 to N4,000,” he said.

“As I said, our concern is not to make money as such, we are not a revenue generating agencies. Since we found out that JAMB has been able to bring into government coffers about N8bn, we said we should reduce the burdens on parents,” the minister added.

Asked whether the reduction was connected with the 2019 elections, he said: “A good thing doesn’t have to have a reason. Whether it is because of election or not, I think parents deserve to have the fees reduced. And I think there is no better time to do a good thing than now.”