The Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on Sunday traded words over the scheduling of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
Obi had accused the Board of endangering the lives of young students.
In a strongly worded statement, he 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.
“Who takes responsibility when a 15- or 16-year-old child disappears or is harmed while trying to access their right to education?
“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.
But in a swift response, JAMB asked Obi to distinguish between pre-test verification and actual UTME start times.
It debunked Obi’s claim, stating that no exams were scheduled to start at 6 am.
“Our examination is scheduled to commence at 8:00 am, not 6:00 am.
“Verification and clearance begin at 6:30 am to afford candidates adequate time to settle in,” JAMB stated.