Matters Arising: Nigeria is an English-speaking country – why should the citizens take IELTS?

Cable NG

Elizabeth Olayemi, a master’s student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), is in a spin. The 25-year-old lady is seeking admission into a top varsity in the United States for her doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) programme.

But after she paid an application fee of N48,000 and met most admission requirements, she is left with a major hurdle — the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Olayemi, who recently took the exam, told TheCable Lifestyle that raising money for the exercise was not a walk in the park. The student said she is afraid that she may have to take the IELTS again if she fails to get the score required by the institution.

“I paid N83,000 for the exam — which is more than the salary of average Nigerians. The cost is too much,” she said.

Olayemi’s experience is not different from that of many other Nigerian students seeking to study or work abroad.

Many foreign universities abroad demand the IELTS as a requirement for admitting international students — including those from Nigeria.

WHAT IS IELTS?

IELTS is an English language proficiency test for those seeking to study, migrate or work in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom — where English is considered to be the native language.

The test usually examines applicants’ ability to listen, read, write and speak in English and is graded on a scale of 1 to 9.

According to a statement on its website, “the IELTS is jointly owned by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English.”

The validity of the exam result is usually two years. This means if one takes the exam in 2022, the result will become irrelevant by 2024.

SHOULD IELTS BE APPLICABLE TO NIGERIANS?

In recent times, campaigns for the removal of the IELTS requirement for Nigerians and several other African countries where English is the official language have intensified on social media.

Nigeria is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations — the 54 countries which are historically colonised by Britain. It is also one of the over 20 English-speaking countries in Africa.

The country was one of the 31 nations out of 112 across the world ranked either ‘Very High’ or ‘High’ on the 2021 Education First (EF) English Proficiency Index (EPI).

With 560 index points, the country was ranked 29th globally and 3rd in Africa just behind Kenya (587 points) and South Africa (606 points) respectively.

From the foregoing, many Nigerians argued that the country should be exempted from the list of nations taking the test.

Checks by TheCable Lifestyle showed that none of the English-speaking nations in Africa is among 31 countries whose citizens are exempted from taking the…