JAMB Endangering Teenagers With ‘Reckless’ UTME Scheduling – Peter Obi

The Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections,Peter Obi, has faulted the scheduling of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

This was as he said the early start times are endangering the lives of young students.

The former Anambra State governor, in a strongly worded statement on Sunday, expressed concern over reports that teenagers, many aged between 15 and 17, were being required to arrive at UTME centres as early as 6:30 am.

“These are teenagers forced to travel in the dark, often across dangerous and unfamiliar areas, just to exercise their right to education,” he said.

The philanthropist described the practice as reckless, citing reports of students being involved in road accidents, going missing, and suffering psychological trauma during the examination period.

“Who takes responsibility when a 15- or 16-year-old child disappears or is harmed while trying to access their right to education?” He queried.

He also argued that the issue reflects deeper, systemic problems within Nigeria’s education sector, particularly a lack of adequate infrastructure.

“Nigeria has just about 200 universities for a population of over 200 million people. That’s one university for every one million citizens, a staggering and deeply worrying ratio,” he added.

Obi compared Nigeria’s gross enrollment ratio of around 12 per cent with Indonesia’s 45 per cent, pointing out that the Southeast Asian country, with a population of 280 million, has over 4,000 tertiary institutions.

He, therefore, urged the federal government to significantly increase investment in education.

Obi suggested that even reaching half of Indonesia’s infrastructure, around 2,000 universities, would improve access and reduce the risk to students.

He urged a deliberate expansion of Nigeria’s education system to reflect the country’s growing population and protect the well-being of future generations.

Responding, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, attempted to distinguish between pre-test verification and actual UTME start times.

Earlier, a teenage girl was reported to have gone missing during her movement to a UTME centre in Ajah, Lagos