The kids are not alright
Nigerian students are failing their university entry exams at an alarming rate
Good morning, Big Brains. This is Day 2 of me shamelessly begging you to move The Big Daily to your main inbox and share today’s edition with your friends and foes.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Nigerian students are failing their university entry exams at an alarming rate
Tinubu’s student loan system needs an upgrade
The Big Deal
Nigerian students are failing their university entry exams at an alarming rate
The 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results are in, and we wish there were a gentler way to say this, but it’s giving #OlodoCore.
According to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), only 21.5% of the 1,950,000 students who sat for the exam scored above 200. That’s 420,415 students out of nearly two million. Out of all registered students, 50.29% scored between 160 and 199, while 24.97% scored between 140 and 159.
According to the board, 40,247 underage candidates were also allowed to showcase their exceptional academic abilities during the university entry exams, but only 467 of them met the cut-off mark.
Why is this a big deal?
Because these results do not exactly scream “Leaders of Tomorrow”, and so many factors need to be considered.
If you think this year's mass failure is just a one-time thing, think again. In 2024, 76% of students scored below 200. In 2022, only 378,639 out of 1,761,338 students who wrote the exam scored above 200. This pattern is what’s keeping policymakers and parents up at night.
Some Nigerians are pointing fingers at students' overreliance on social media. But when nearly 80% of over a million students can’t hit a 200/400 score, the system is most likely deeply broken.
The system has been under attack for years — from underfunded public schools and overcrowded classrooms to overworked and underpaid teachers. Now add reports that JAMB scheduled some exams as early as 6 am, and you’ve got a full-blown recipe for disaster.
And before you say, “At least some scraped past the cut-off,” remember: a low UTME score limits a student’s choices. Competitive courses like medicine, where Nigeria is trying to fill urgent gaps, require high scores. With results like these, many students might not even make it to the Post-UTME stage.
So yes, this is a big deal. How can we compete globally if Nigeria keeps producing students who can’t meet basic academic standards? What happens to critical sectors like health, where we’re already losing our best hands?
The kids are not alright, and neither is the country.
Tinubu’s student loan system needs an upgrade
Remember when the Tinubu-led administration launched the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) and advertised it like the next best thing after plantain? Well, word on the street is that the fund isn’t funding as advertised.
Some graduates claim they applied for the loan while still in school, but by the time funds came through, they had already paid their fees, graduated, and moved on with their lives. Now, NELFUND expects them to repay a loan they never used. Even worse, some of these graduates are still getting ₦20,000 monthly stipends, despite informing NELFUND that they are graduates.
The situation has gotten so bad that the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have stepped in. Out of ₦100 billion reportedly disbursed by NELFUND, only ₦28.8 billion has been traced to students. The ICPC is currently investigating where the rest of the money went. But it's not just NELFUND that’s responsible for the mess. Some universities have been accused of illegally deducting between ₦3,500 and ₦30,000 from tuition paid through the loan, allegedly in collaboration with banks.
Right now, ICPC is working overtime to figure out what’s going on, and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is getting ready to protest what they’re calling a “major discrepancy.”
Let’s just say today is not a great day for Nigeria’s education system.
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This Week’s Big Question
“Pick your poison — Atiku or Tinubu for president in 2027”
Eden’s response - “Give me Atiku — at least if we are going in circles, he's got the air miles for it. It's his consistency for me.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Eden’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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You talk anyhow, you see anyhow
Nigerian leaders have been moving weird lately and have been justifying their bully-like actions with the Cybercrime Act, but the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is tired of watching that happen.