Former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has expressed serious concern over the alarming performance of candidates in the recently released 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In a strongly worded statement shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Obi described the results as a “disturbing indicator” of Nigeria’s crumbling education sector.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Monday, released a statistical breakdown of this year’s UTME results. The data revealed that over 1.5 million candidates scored below 200—the commonly used cut-off mark for university admissions in Nigeria.
Breakdown of the 2025 UTME Performance
According to JAMB, out of 1,955,069 results processed, only 420,415 candidates scored above 200. The high-performance category—those scoring 300 and above—included a mere 12,414 candidates, which represents just 0.63% of all test-takers.
Further analysis shows:
- 4,756 candidates scored 320 and above
- 7,658 candidates scored between 300–319
- 40,247 underage candidates sat for the exam under special waivers, but only 467 (1.16%) met the board’s threshold for exceptional performance
Obi: Poor Results Reflect Systemic Neglect
Peter Obi blamed the poor results on decades of underfunding and mismanagement of Nigeria’s education system. “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,” he said.
Obi stressed that the UTME outcome is not merely about individual failures but a symptom of systemic collapse, and called for an urgent re-evaluation of national priorities.
Nigeria Lags Behind Peer Nations in Higher Education
In his statement, Obi compared Nigeria’s university enrollment figures to other developing nations. He pointed out that:
- Nigeria, with a population of over 220 million, has just about 2 million university students
- The National University of Bangladesh alone enrolls over 3.4 million students, despite Bangladesh having 75% of Nigeria’s population
- Turkey, with approximately 87.7 million people, has over 7 million university students, more than three times Nigeria’s total
“These comparisons reveal how far behind we are in investing in human capital,” Obi added.
Education as a Strategic Investment
Reiterating his long-standing advocacy, Obi emphasized that education must be seen not as a cost, but as a national investment. “Education is the most critical driver of national development and the most powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty. We must now invest aggressively in education at all levels if we are serious about building a prosperous, secure, and equitable Nigeria,” he said.
A Call to Action
The former presidential candidate urged policymakers to urgently address the structural deficiencies plaguing Nigeria’s education sector. He called for:
- Increased budgetary allocation to education
- Reforms in curriculum and teaching standards
- A long-term strategic plan for expanding access to quality tertiary education
