Reacting to the dismal performance of students in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), former presidential candidate Peter Obi has called for urgent and far-reaching reforms in Nigeria’s education sector.
Taking to his official social media accounts on Tuesday, Obi expressed concern over the figures released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which showed that more than 78% of candidates failed to score up to 200 out of 400.
According to the JAMB statistics cited by Obi, out of a total of 1,955,069 candidates who participated in the UTME, only about 420,000 managed to score above 200, leaving over 1.5 million candidates with lower scores.
“The latest JAMB results once again highlight the consequences of decades of underinvestment in education, a sector that should be central to our national development strategy,” Obi stated, describing the outcome as a clear sign of systemic failure.
He went further to draw attention to how other countries have overtaken Nigeria in education and development.
“Bangladesh, which once lagged behind Nigeria in virtually every measurable development index, now surpasses us in all key areas of development and in the Human Development Index (HDI),” he noted.
Comparing higher education enrollment, Obi pointed out Nigeria’s significant shortfall.
“While Nigeria has around 2 million students enrolled in universities nationwide, Bangladesh’s National University alone has over 3.4 million students, despite having only 75% of Nigeria’s population,” he said.
“Turkey, with a population of about 87.7 million, boasts over 7 million university students, more than three times Nigeria’s total enrollment,” he added.
Obi emphasized that education should not be seen merely as a welfare service but as a national priority.
“Education is not just a social service; it is a strategic investment. It is the most critical driver of national development and the most powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty,” he said.
He concluded by calling on the Nigerian government to treat the situation with the urgency it deserves.
“Invest aggressively in education, at all levels, if we are serious about building a prosperous, secure, and equitable Nigeria,” Obi urged.
