Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, has raised alarm over the recently published 2025 UTME results by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), describing them as evidence of Nigeria’s ailing education system.
Taking to his verified social media platform, Obi expressed concern that of the 1,955,069 candidates who participated in the examination, only around 420,000 achieved scores above 200. The remaining 1.5 million candidates failed to reach that benchmark.
“This means over 78% of candidates didn’t hit the 200 mark—a disturbing sign of our broken educational structure,” Obi stated.
He blamed the poor performance on years of consistent neglect and insufficient funding in the sector.
According to him, repositioning education as a national priority is essential for any meaningful development.
Obi further compared Nigeria’s situation with that of countries like Bangladesh and Turkey.
He pointed out that Bangladesh’s National University enrols over 3.4 million students, despite the country having a smaller population than Nigeria.
In Turkey, a nation with roughly 87.7 million people, over 7 million students are enrolled in universities, more than triple Nigeria’s total.
He emphasised that education must be treated as a core developmental strategy and not just a social service.
“To lift millions out of poverty and build a stable, prosperous Nigeria, we need massive and targeted investments in education,” Obi concluded.