A petition titled “Stop asking Nigerians to write IELTS’’ initiated by Policy Shapers has generated 26,000 signatures with well over 2,000 comments.
The petition which began on Change.org, an online petition-aggregator, is aimed at putting an end to the demands for English proficiency tests – the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), from Nigerians.
The petition, which was initiated by a youth-led open-source platform for policy ideas that address the world’s most pressing challenges called Policy Shapers, was addressed to the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel.
In the petition, which was addressed to the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel, the group (Policy Changers) argued no country in Africa, out of the 27 who list English as one of their official languages, is on the Home Office list of countries exempted from taking the test. Meanwhile, the UK Home Office has exempted Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and ten other countries from those who would require the test.
PUNCH reports that Ebenezar Wikina, Founder of Policy Shapers, stated that the campaign became necessary after observing that many Nigerians had lost opportunities because they could not afford the cost of the test – which is more than three times the minimum wage and the result expires in two years- despite having tertiary education in the English language.
“While advocating for this as a team, we found that there were many more young Africans who felt strongly about the issue, so we set up a task force with over 70 volunteers and we have all been working to push the movement together. Everything came together organically.
”At the moment, our petition has over 25,000 signatures with more than 2,000 comments in support of this advocacy movement,’’ Ebenezar added.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who has endorsed the campaign stated that Nigerians deserve benefits such as an exemption from the test as former British colonies while speaking at an engagement with 2021 Mandela Washington Fellows and US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard.
The vice president noted that he believes “A change in the policy would make life easier for Nigerian students who wish to study abroad or access opportunities because now the ultimate English proficiency barrier has been removed.”
However, the UK Home Office is yet to respond to the request for an explanation on why Nigeria is not exempted.
The International English Language Testing System, is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English, and was established in 1989. (Wikipedia)
