Over 26,000 Nigerians have signed a petition on Change.org to stop the demand for English proficiency tests from Nigerians looking to travel abroad for studies or work.
The petition, which was initiated by Policy Shapers, was titled “Stop asking Nigerians to write IELTS”.
As Nigeria’s language of instruction at various levels of education is primarily English, the petition calls for an end to foreign institutions’ demands for the International English Language Testing System from Nigerians.
In the petition, which was addressed to the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel, the group argued that no Anglophone African country are exempted from taking the English Language test despite being part of the Commonwealth.
It further said the UK Home Office has exempted Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and 10 other countries from those, who would require the test.
Policy Shapers said it had requested modalities the UK Home Office put in place to measure English proficiency in the 18 countries on its list as it expressed the belief that same should be applied to Nigeria and other Anglophone countries on the continent.