A Nigerian educator has expressed worry about a female student who allegedly went without food for two days after receiving an unusually low score on the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Obanuso Temitope Obanuso, the teacher who prepares pupils for the exam, reported the story on Facebook, adding that the girl is distraught over her score and has requested an official review. He claims she is so sure in her performance that she demands punishment if her score stays less than 300 after a proper re-evaluation.
“I had six kids who got close to 300 last year but were issued results below 160. These are committed and gifted students. They did their absolute best. One of them has gone without eating for 48 hours. She has been asking with me to contact JAMB so that if they review her work and find her score less than 300, she will be penalized because she knew what she was doing.”
The teacher also stated that he has received numerous communications from anxious parents and children, indicating a possible widespread problem. He questioned the dominant narrative, which blames widespread failure on students’ lack of seriousness.
“I have dozens of parents and students in my direct message list. They have no control over themselves. How do you explain the reduction in student numbers from 270 or 280 in 2024 to 123 and 132 in 2025? Everyone believes that the widespread failure is the result of incompetence. It is an outright untruth. Nigerian students are outstanding. Are American and European students more serious? Which country does not have a high prevalence of social media and phone fondling among its youth? Go check how our students did in international exams and competitions. Not everyone is joking around. Many of these students are more serious than the young adults who mock them.”
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Obanuso’s article has since gone viral, sparking debates over the UTME grading system, student mental health, and the validity of recent exam results.
Reaction to the post:
According to @Omolola Prosper, there are issues with the JAMB this year. How to achieve justice, Koko Bayi, because this is our Nigeria.
@Simeon Olukunle stated: “Until Nigeria occurs to you, you would believe that other people who complain are lazy and opposed to the current government. As we all know, Jamb, as a government organization, usually wins; when I first heard about the results and people blaming weak reading culture, all I could do was chuckle.”
