Alarmed by the cost of the initiative and other factors, thousands of people have signed a petition by Policy Shapers, a public policy organisation, on Change.org, seeking a policy reform by the UK on its request for English Language Proficiency from Nigerians who are migrating to the UK to study or work.
Meanwhile, in a recent TwitterSpace organized by Premium Times, Nigerians maintained that the continuous request of an English Proficiency Test from Nigerians, and citizens of other Anglophone countries in Africa, seeking to study or work in the United Kingdom, “is simply a way of swindling the citizens of these countries of their monies by the UK authorities.”
Some participants, who spoke at the forum, condemned what they described as the UK authorities’ unwillingness to include Nigeria and other African countries on the list of its Majority English Speaking Country (MESC).
Many participants had argued that English being the language of instruction in Nigerian schools from kindergarten to tertiary level is a testimony that Nigerians speak and understand the language.
It is important to note that the cost of the test, which currently stands between N80,000 and N90,000 in Nigeria, is almost three times the country’s minimum wage of N30,000.
Apart from its high cost, the test is only valid for two years and can only be taken in 12 cities across the country.
Individuals requiring it for their pursuits would have to take the test again if they fail or did not relocate to the UK after two years of taking the test.
It would be recalled that in October 2021, Policy Shapers wrote to the UK Home Office seeking answers to why none of the Anglophone countries in Africa was part of its Majority English Speaking Countries, and what it will take for the UK to include them on the list.
In January 2022, which was three months later, the UK replied the inquiry by the public campaign organization, amidst the growing number of signees of the Policy Shapers’ petition, and growing Twitter trends of #ReformIELTSPolicy #IELTS, #TOEFL, most of them tagging the UK home office’s twitter handle.
In parts, the reply read: “To be included on the Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) list, we must have evidence that most people in the country (more than half) speak English as a first language.
“We rely on publicly available evidence such as official censuses to make this determination along with other academic sources.
“We may also consult the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office where additional evidence is required. Currently, based on the information available to us, Nigeria does not meet the requirement.
“This list is periodically reviewed and updated, and new countries are added if they are found to meet the requirements.
But, while speaking at the Twitter Space, Ebenezer Wikina, the founder of Policy Shapers, and a champion of the #ReformIELTSPolicy campaign, stated that the UK home office is too elaborate and not specific in what kind of public evidence it relies on to verify that more than 51 per cent of Nigerians speak English.
Wikina said: “Public evidence is very broad. There is a lot of public evidence on why Nigerians should be on that list.”
Substantiating his claims, Wikina cited how Nigeria made the top 28 countries for six consecutive years in the English Proficiency Index released annually by Education First, a Sweden-based international education company that specializes in language training.
The founder said: “We actually deserve to be on the list. And I think that we should be on the list and that’s what the campaign is all about.”
