Nigeria, May 15 -- This year, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released results that sent shockwaves through Nigeria: 76% of candidates scored below 200 out of 400.

Chinonso is 20. She scored 265 in the last JAMB. It wasn't her first time, this was her third try. Her older brother calls her "Professor" at home, but every morning, she folds her bedsheet like a boarder and washes her uniform of disappointment. Her dreams of studying Medicine at UNN are real, but in Nigeria, dreams don't always respond to effort. They respond to systems. And JAMB is one.

In Nigeria's higher education landscape, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) stands tall, not as a bridge to opportunity, but often as a toll gate. It wa...