IELTS: UK Home Office reacts to Nigerians’ call to skip English proficiency test

WITH over 60,000 signatures on a petition on change.org to stop foreign universities from requesting English proficiency tests from Nigerians, the UK Home Office says changes will not be implemented soon.

THE UK Home Office responded to a request by Ebenezar Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers, an open-source policy platform, which asked the Home Office to provide its criteria for exempting countries from taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Foreign universities demand the IELTS as a requirement for admitting international students.

While the IELTS tests are expensive, and fees more than double the minimum wage in Nigeria, the test results are valid only for two years.

“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,” the UK Home Office said.

The UK Home Office does not officially recognise 27 Anglophone countries in Africa as English speaking countries.

However, the UK Home Office exempts citizens of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and 10 other countries from taking the test.