Nigeria, May 18 -- The phrase "spiritual problem" often captures moments when life's absurdities pile up in a way that defies logic-like trekking 10 km to work only to realize you left your office key at home, then trekking back to find your house key is in the bag you left at the office, only to later discover the office key was in the bag all along.

This metaphor of cyclical frustration mirrors the recent saga surrounding Nigeria's Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). For thousands of candidates, parents, and institutions, JAMB's 2024 UTME season has been a labyrinth of technical glitches, systemic failures, and human tragedies-raising questions about whether Nigeria...