Former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has appealed to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to urgently ease the challenges faced by students seeking to amend their course or institution choices.
In a statement posted on X titled “JAMB: A Plea for Compassion”, Obi recounted how he recently encountered a large crowd of students outside JAMB’s state office in Amawbia, Anambra State—some even perched on the perimeter fence. Upon stopping to speak with them, he learned they were there to process changes that should ordinarily be handled at JAMB-designated CBT centres.
The students told him that most CBT centres in the state had stopped offering the service. Obi’s subsequent inquiries revealed that 17 out of 28 JAMB-approved centres in Anambra had been blacklisted, with many operators unaware of the exact reasons beyond the vague explanation of being “under investigation.”
The development, Obi said, has left students travelling long distances from remote areas to access JAMB’s state office. Many reported making up to five unsuccessful trips before being attended to. He also highlighted a steep cost increase—from the standard ₦1,500 at accredited centres to as much as ₦15,000 at the state office, often inflated by unofficial charges.
“This has placed an immense financial, physical, and emotional burden on our young people,” Obi lamented, warning that delays were already preventing many from transferring to their preferred institutions. With several universities having begun post-UTME screenings, the situation, he said, “risks derailing the academic futures of countless students.”
Acknowledging that JAMB may have legitimate reasons for blacklisting certain centres, Obi urged the agency to adopt “a more humane and transparent approach,” such as allowing the centres to operate under close monitoring while investigations continue.
“Education remains the hope of our nation,” he stressed. “We must not allow bureaucratic bottlenecks and opacity to derail the dreams of our young people.”
Obi’s intervention comes amid heightened economic hardship, rising insecurity, and soaring youth unemployment in Nigeria, further intensifying the pressure on students and their families.
Credit: @PeterObi via X.
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