The South-East Senate Caucus has voiced serious concerns regarding recent disruptions during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), especially in exam centres across the South-East region and parts of Lagos.
The senators are demanding clarity and fairness in the handling of education policy, saying the glitches raise troubling questions.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South and serving as Chairman of the caucus, the senators noted the widespread failure of JAMB’s computer-based testing in the South-East during the last exam cycle.
They pointed out that the entire region experienced what they describe as a “curious and highly suspicious” breakdown.
The lawmakers questioned the possible motive behind such a large-scale failure. They warned that using political bias or regional favouritism in educational matters could endanger the future of young Nigerians and damage national unity.
Abaribe said, “The so-called glitch, as curious and suspicious as it was, is enough to erode confidence and dangerously lower national pride among the future generation.
“The relevant national education drivers must recognise the inherent danger of injecting hateful politics and narrow parochial considerations in both policy enunciation and Its implementations.
“That the glitch happened in the whole of South East raises pertinent questions that must be answered by JAMB to assuage the growing frustrations and fears among the people of the region, particularly the children who are directly at the receiving end. We must pursue a Nigerian agenda and not a narrow one that will ultimately injure national unity.
“Education remains one of the most important bedrocks of any society’s advancement. It is one major index of development in every facet of life that can never be faulted. Education is a major pivot that triggers national development. Every child is entitled to it; therefore, we must not play roulette with it.
He said that the South East Senate Caucus is alert and under pressure as it unequivocally demands firm assurance from JAMB and other relevant national educational policy drivers that there will never be a recurrence of such a scandalous glitch in the future.
