By The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (Worldwide) has rejected the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) plan to reschedule examinations for candidates affected by alleged errors in the recently released UTME results, insisting instead that the Board award a minimum score of 300 to all affected candidates from the South-East.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, had on Wednesday admitted that certain technical issues led to unusually low scores for candidates in the five South-East states and Lagos.
As a corrective measure, he announced that JAMB would organise a fresh examination for those impacted.
However, in a strongly worded statement on Thursday, the National President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Maazi Okwu Nnabuike, described the plan as “totally unacceptable” and an unjust punishment for students who bore no responsibility for the error.
“We want to state, unequivocally, that our people will not accept any fresh examination, having already been subjected to mental torture by JAMB,” Okwu said.
“The candidates are not in the right frame of mind to undergo another examination, having been faced with mental torture ever since the fake results were announced.”
He questioned the practicality of a rescheduled exam, citing the emotional stress on students, the financial burden on already struggling parents, and the risks associated with travel in a country facing widespread insecurity.
“Who is going to bear the cost? The same parents who are facing severe financial challenges?
“What of the risk of moving to the examination locations, in a country ravaged by insecurity?” he asked.
Okwu insisted that the only just solution would be to allocate a minimum score of 300 to all the affected candidates in the South-East. “Igbos are very brilliant people and could have made 300 and above.
It was a deliberate design to punish the people of the South-East, clearly to deny them educational opportunities,” he declared.
He warned that failure by JAMB to meet this demand would be met with legal action.
“Should JAMB fail to heed our request, we shall not hesitate to drag them to court; no form of crocodile tears by the Registrar will save the Board,” he said.
The statement has added fuel to ongoing discussions about regional equity in Nigeria’s education system and raised questions about the transparency and accountability of national examinations.
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