Nigerian influencers, Tunde Omotoye, Fola Aina and Dipo Awojide have a one-year ambassadorial deal with the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to sell the English language test and certification programme to Nigerian youths.
Awojide is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy at Nottingham Trent University and has over 900,000 followers on Twitter, while Aina is a Development Policy expert with over 113,000 followers.
Omotoye, the co-founder of Humansquad, a Canada-based immigration tech startup, has over 327,000 followers on Twitter.
Awojide and Omotoye were IELTS ambassadors last year and just had their contracts renewed.
Aina was just added to the list of IELTS’ ambassadors.
IELTS is an English language test that is popular with young Nigerians seeking admissions, visas, or work opportunities in Europe and North America.
IELTS is meant for non-native English speakers and is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP, IELTS Australia, and Cambridge Assessment English.
The tests are required by some institutions abroad as proof of English proficiency. It is also approved by the United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI) for visa customers applying outside and inside the UK.
It is also a prerequisite for seeking immigration to Canada.
The recruitment of the influencers who are quite popular with Nigerian youths is to enhance IELTS’ blossoming business in Nigeria.
IELTS has been making loads of money from Nigerian youths since the country started struggling in all key areas of development, especially youth employment, and security.
It costs roughly about N83,000 ($200.05) to sit for academic and general IELTS test in Nigeria and about N89,500 ($216.2) for UK Visas and Immigration tests.
To make matters worse, the test expires after two years, a situation many Nigerians find curious.
One Nigerian youth asked on Twitter: “Why do you have to re-sit IELTS after two years? If you can speak English very well this year, does it mean you suddenly lose your ability to speak the language well after two years?”
The question echoes the query bothering the minds of many Nigerian youths who believe the English language test is meant to rip off the youths in third world countries, including Nigeria, cashing in on the general quest of Nigerians to seek greener pastures outside the shores of the country.
