JAMB is taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to Canada. And honestly, that headline sounds almost like a joke.
For years, Nigerian students have travelled long distances, battled poor roads, unreliable electricity, overcrowded examination centres and a host of other challenges just to sit for an examination that determines their chances of gaining admission into Nigerian universities.
Now, JAMB is preparing to establish a UTME centre in Ottawa, Canada, so Nigerians living there can take the examination without travelling back home.
At first glance, it is a good development. Nigerians in the diaspora who want to study in Nigeria should not have to spend thousands of dollars travelling home simply to write JAMB. If the examination can be conducted properly in Canada, why not?
But this is where the irony comes in. Nigeria is taking JAMB to Canada at a time when candidates at home still complain about examination centres, network problems, biometric verification, technical glitches and other difficulties associated with the UTME.
So, naturally, there are asking questions. How did we get to the point where writing JAMB in Canada can become easier for some Nigerians than writing it in Nigeria?
But beyond the jokes and reactions, I think there is a bigger question here. Why would a Nigerian living in Canada choose to leave Canadian universities for a Nigerian university?
What exactly are we offering that would make someone who already lives in a country with a more established education system look towards Nigeria for tertiary education?
Have our universities reached that level? Are the facilities good enough? Are the learning environments competitive enough? Are graduates getting the opportunities they deserve?
Of course, there will always be Nigerians in the diaspora who have personal, professional or family reasons for wanting to study in Nigeria. Some may also prefer Nigerian institutions for specific courses or because they intend to build their careers here. So, this is not to say that no Nigerian in Canada should want to study in Nigeria.
But the bigger picture is worth examining. For years, Nigerians have travelled abroad in search of better education. Parents save for years to send their children overseas. Young people apply to universities in the UK, Canada, the United States and other countries because they believe those systems offer opportunities that are difficult to find at home.
Now, JAMB is making it easier for Nigerians in Canada to write an examination for admission into Nigerian universities. That is convenient. But perhaps the bigger ambition should be making Nigerian universities so attractive that Nigerians abroad want to come home to study, rather than simply making it easier for them to write JAMB from abroad. Because accessibility is one thing. Attractiveness is another.
JAMB taking the UTME to Canada is not necessarily the problem. In fact, it shows that the examination body is willing to adapt to the needs of Nigerians outside the country. But I cannot help wondering: what will make a Nigerian in Canada look at the universities around them and say, “I would rather study in Nigeria”? That is the conversation I think we should be having.
When we hear that JAMB is going to Canada, perhaps the excitement should not end with, “Wow, Nigerians abroad can now write JAMB there.” It should also make us ask what Nigeria is doing to make its universities competitive enough to attract Nigerians back home.
Because taking JAMB to the diaspora may solve the problem of where candidates write the examination. It does not solve the bigger question of why they should choose Nigeria in the first place.
Canada has got its JAMB centre coming. Now, perhaps Nigeria needs to work towards a university system that gives Nigerians in Canada and Nigerians everywhere else a compelling reason to come home. That, to me, would be the bigger achievement.
