Nigeria, Feb. 7 -- In Nigeria's tertiary education sector, an imposing hurdle stands between millions of hopeful students and their dreams. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Established as the supposed gatekeeper to higher education, JAMB has over the years evolved into a labyrinthine system that tests endurance as much as intelligence.

A young Nigerian, armed with hope and ambition, embarks on an arduous journey to a distant exam center. The stakes are astronomical. One test determines whether they will enter university or be cast back into another year of uncertainty. Parents scrape together N8000 for registration, sometimes at great personal sacrifice, only for their child to sit for an exam whose success does not ...