Following report from the management of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) that only 0.5% of candidates scored 300 and above in its last exam, Peter Obi has called for improved investment in teachers across the nation.
The former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, said the statistics from JAMB proved the current ranking of Nigeria that placed the country at 164 of 191 on Human Development Index.
Obi said education remained the most viable human capital development investment across nations. He said to get education right and improve the current literacy rate of Nigeria at 50%, the welfare of teachers must be priority of governments across the nation.
He said, “The recent revelation regarding the JAMB UTME 2024 results and percentages has sparked deep concern about the state of education in our country. These statistics paint a troubling picture that demands urgent national attention and discussion.
“The distribution of scores is alarming, with only 0.5% of candidates reportedly scoring 300 (75%) and above, while a staggering 76% scored below 200 (below 50%). This highlights a systemic issue within our education sector indicating a significant lack of attention to this very critical contributor to national development. This brings to limelight an obvious gap in the quality of education provided nationwide. Education remains a critical determinant of a nation’s progress on the Human Development Index (HDI).
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The former governor of Anambra State added, “Unfortunately, Nigeria has continued to lag behind in education, reflected by its low HDI ranking of 164 out of the 191 countries measured. This places Nigeria far below other comparable nations like Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines which are within medium and high HDI. Though we claim as a nation that our literacy rate is above 50 percent, which is far below the global average of about 80% and continues to lag behind other comparable countries like Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines with literacy rates of above 70%. This again, underscores the systemic challenge in access to quality education, particularly in rural areas.”
Speaking on the consequences of poor JAMB scores, Obi said the enrolment percentage of Nigerians in universities will continue to decline. He said this is shown in the current number of university students across different universities in Nigeria.
“One of the consequences of the reported general poor performance in UTME is that with our population of over 200 million, Nigeria can only boast of about 2 million full-time students in different universities, while Iran with a population of over 89 million has over 8.2 million students in one University alone, Islamic Azad University, Bangladesh with a population of about 173 million boasts of over 2 million enrolled undergraduates in the National University of Bangladesh,” he said.
He further called for more investment in education, increased welfare and training of teachers and implementing inclusive policies.
Obi said, “This underscores the urgency of the attention needed in our education sector. In solving this challenge, we must prioritise education as a key driver of development by aggressively investing in education, enhancing teacher training programs, and implementing inclusive policies.”
