An observation shared on social media on application data for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has intensified concerns about the state of education in Nigeria’s North-west.
The development followed a post on X by Aminu Nass, a professor of mathematics at the Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, in which he shared a comment by one Dr Bashir Jelani.
“This is not about Arewa’s poor JAMB results. The number of registered candidates should worry us more,” Mr Jelani wrote.
“Kano (17.5 million) is about three times as populous as Benue (6 million). Yet, the number of candidates who sat for the 2026 JAMB in Benue (99k) far exceeds the number in Kano.
“If that doesn’t scare you, look at Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara, which had only 17.4k, 17.7k, and 15.6k candidates, respectively. Each of these states has a population roughly comparable to that of Benue.
