OAU: Stop Playing with the Future of Nigerian Students
For decades, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, stood as one of the most trusted institutions in Nigeria. Parents believe in its fairness, students admire its meritocracy, and the nation respects its integrity. But that glory now belongs to history. The OAU of today has descended into shame. The recently concluded post-UTME exercise was not an examination but a scandal. It was not a test of merit but a rigged show of manipulation. What OAU did was not education, it was betrayal.
OAU 2025 off-site post utme exercise is a eyesore. Almost every candidate was given a score of either 20 or 32, with 32 presented as the highest mark. Are we to believe that thousands of intelligent, hardworking students all of whom prepared for months magically collapsed at the same shallow level of performance? The scores alone exposed the fraud. They are too uniform, too suspicious, too contrived. And when you hear the confession from within OAU’s ICT team, the mask falls off completely. We have the voice notes where the ICT spokesman clearly said, “They deliberately marked candidates down…” That is not speculation, we have the proof! Marking candidates down intentionally for whatever reason or whatsoever, is unprofessional and unacceptable in the 21st Century!!!
Their excuse is even more insulting than the act itself. Because one candidate allegedly completed the test in eight minutes and scored 40/40, the school panicked and decided to clamp down on everyone else. Instead of verifying the system, they punished excellence. Instead of investigating malpractice, they criminalized brilliance. They reduced hard work to ashes and turned a test of knowledge into a lottery of injustice. That is not education it is wickedness institutionalized.
But the inconsistencies run deeper. How do you explain a situation where someone who did not even attempt up to twenty questions miraculously surfaced with a score of thirty-two? Such arithmetic does not add up, it is an insult to common sense. It reeks of cooked figures, as though results were plucked from thin air rather than derived from performance. When scores defy logic, then credibility has been thrown to the dogs.
The irony bites harder. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has already directed all Nigerian universities to cease the conduct of post-UTME. If the regulator has spoken, why is OAU still staging this shadow exercise under the table? Is the university now a law unto itself, cherry-picking rules as it pleases? You cannot blow hot and cold at the same time. If post-UTME has been outlawed, then OAU’s stubborn insistence on holding it is not just disobedience, it is open defiance.
Let us even suppose the examination had been conducted physically within the four walls of the university. The specter of manipulation would have been greatly reduced. Transparency thrives where human eyes can see, but deceit blossoms in the shadows of online systems. By hiding behind digital curtains, OAU created loopholes that swallowed justice whole. A physical test might not be flawless, but at least the smoke and mirrors of “shared marks” would have had no stage to play.
And sadly, this is not the first time Nigerian students have suffered such abuse. Only months ago, JAMB humiliated candidates in the same way. They gave them ridiculously low scores, then later admitted “errors” and instructed some to retake the exam. JAMB did it at the national level, now OAU is copying it at the university level. It is the same reckless script, the same shameless manipulation, the same crushing of dreams. And as always, it is the students and their families who suffer the consequences.
This must be called what it is: educational injustice. Examinations are supposed to reward effort and measure merit. But when scores are shared like political patronage, when candidates are mocked and told by OAU ICT Spokesman, “If you are not satisfied, go to court,” then we are no longer talking about education. We are talking about arrogance, abuse of power, and a complete collapse of accountability. No institution in Nigeria should be above scrutiny. Not OAU. Not JAMB. Not any so-called authority.
The loopholes in this post-UTME have also exposed the deep incompetence within the university itself. The system of off-site exams was already flawed, and OAU lacked the technical and human capacity to manage it. Their ICT spokesman did not cover himself in honor either. Instead of providing answers, he became aggressive, throwing around baseless excuses as if that could explain the mass injustice. His performance revealed not leadership but arrogance, not competence but chaos.
This is not just about one exam gone wrong. It is about the future of education in Nigeria. When institutions openly manipulate results, they destroy the faith of students in hard work. They push families into despair. They undermine the credibility of certificates. And they slowly strangle the hope that education can still be an equalizer in this country. A society that toys with its young people’s future is digging its own grave.
The solution is not complicated. OAU must publish a transparent report of what happened. The true results of candidates must be restored. Those in the ICT unit who tampered with scores must face serious consequences. If the university lacks the courage to do this, then government intervention becomes non-negotiable. Education is too important to be left in the hands of saboteurs who treat students’ lives like disposable experiments.
But Nigerians must also rise. Students cannot remain silent while their futures are shredded. Parents cannot fold their arms while years of sacrifice are mocked. Civil society must not watch indifferently while injustice thrives in the heart of one of our most prestigious universities. When institutions betray the people, the people must fight back. Accountability will never come from silence. It comes when we demand it loudly, firmly, and relentlessly.
Will OAU continue on this path of arrogance and manipulation, or will it rise again as the university of excellence it once was? The answer will define not only its future but the future of every Nigerian child who still believes in education. If OAU refuses to change, then history will remember it not as a temple of learning, but as a factory of despair. And we, as citizens, must make sure that shame is written in bold letters. Because the future of our children is not a game, and we will not allow it to be gambled away.
- Okikiola Joseph
Writing from Ibadan.
