A Decade at JAMB: Oloyede Prepares to Leave Behind a Transformed Instituti on

By Abdulkarim Abdulmalik.

Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.
In Nigeria’s public service, where many institutions are often associated with bureaucracy, controversy, and inefficiency, it is not common to find a government official whose departure is announced with open praise and visible emotion. Yet, that was the atmosphere in Abuja when the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Said Ahmad, revealed that the 2026 Policy Meeting on Admissions into Tertiary Institutions would be the last to be overseen by Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede as Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

Her words were simple, but they carried weight.

“He has been here for ten years. He has done a lot of good things,” she said. “Ten years is a long time but he is not tired. We will just give you a resting period to relax a bit and then we will just call you back.”

The statement drew laughter and applause, but beneath the humour was an unmistakable acknowledgment: Oloyede’s tenure at JAMB has become one of the most remarkable reform stories in Nigeria’s education sector.

For many Nigerians, JAMB was once viewed as a troubled institution — one regularly accused of corruption, financial opacity, examination malpractice, and administrative inefficiency. Before 2016, public confidence in the examination body had steadily weakened. It was at a very low ebb.

Students complained. Parents worried. Universities questioned the credibility of the process. The institution appeared trapped in an endless cycle of distrust. The frustration was at its apogee!

Then came Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.

When he assumed office on August 9, 2016, expectations were modest. Nigerians had heard promises of reform before. But within a few years, it became clear that something unusual was happening inside the examination body.

The transformation was not merely cosmetic. It was structural. And it was wholesale.

Unarguably, the most startling evidence came from the board’s finances. Between 1978 and 2016, JAMB reportedly remitted less than ₦50 million in total to the Federal Government. That figure alone had long fueled public suspicion about how the agency was managed.

But in 2017, barely one year after Oloyede took over, JAMB remitted ₦7.8 billion as operating surplus to the Federal Government.

The announcement stunned many Nigerians.

For critics of government waste, it became proof that public institutions could perform better when transparency and accountability were taken seriously. To the supporters of reform, it signaled that Nigeria’s public sector problems were not always caused by lack of resources, but often by poor management culture.

From 2016 to 2026, JAMB would go on to remit ₦20.7 billion while still funding infrastructure, technology upgrades, and staff development projects from internally generated revenue.

More significantly, the improved financial health of the board enabled the Federal Government to reduce tertiary institution application fees by 30 percent. It was a decision that directly affected millions of students and struggling families across the country.

In a nation where many young people already face economic hardship before stepping into university classrooms, that reduction mattered.

Yet Oloyede’s impact became a flicker that went beyond money.

Under his leadership, JAMB accelerated the use of technology in examinations and admissions processes.

The introduction and expansion of Computer-Based Testing helped reduce widespread malpractice that had previously damaged the credibility of entrance examinations.

There were still challenges, of course. Technical glitches occasionally sparked public outrage. Some students and parents continued to express frustration during registration periods. But even critics often admitted that the system had become far more organized and transparent than it once was.

For many education stakeholders, the difference was visible and deeply impactful.

Admission racketeering reduced significantly. Identity fraud became harder. Processes that once depended heavily on manual paperwork became increasingly digital. Communication improved. Monitoring strengthened. And system sanity strongly established.

In many ways, Oloyede’s administration reflected the management style of a university scholar rather than that of a conventional bureaucrat.

Long before arriving at JAMB, he had already established himself in Nigeria’s academic community. A professor of Islamic Studies since 1995, Oloyede built a reputation as an administrator with strong intellectual discipline and organizational clarity.

As Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilorin between 2007 and 2012, he presided over one of the country’s most stable federal universities during a period when many campuses were repeatedly shut down owing serial industrial disputes.

He later chaired both the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors between 2011 and 2012, further strengthening his influence within the nation’s higher education system.

Colleagues often describe him as calm but firm — a man deeply committed to discipline, institutional order, and merit.

Aside administration, he also maintained an active academic life. Over the decades, he authored nearly 100 scholarly papers and participated in conferences across different parts of the world, thus reflecting a career shaped by both scholarship and public service.

His contributions did not go unnoticed.

In 2014, he received the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic. In 2019, he earned the National Productivity Order of Merit Award. In 2022, he was awarded Commander of the Order of the Niger and also received the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service in the Education category.

But perhaps his greatest recognition came not from medals or titles, but from a growing public perception that JAMB had become more credible under his watch.

That credibility mattered deeply in a country where educational opportunities often determine the future of millions of young people.

Every year, anxious candidates sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination with dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, teachers, and scholars.

For many families, passing through JAMB is not merely an academic requirement; it is a pathway departure from poverty and uncertainty.

The integrity of that process therefore carries enormous national importance.

As Oloyede prepares to step away after nearly a decade, questions naturally emerge about succession and continuity. Can the reforms survive beyond his tenure? Will the culture of accountability remain? Will future administrations preserve the transparency and efficiency that many Nigerians now associate with JAMB?

Those questions may define the next chapter of the institution.

Leadership transitions in public institutions often test whether reforms were truly institutionalized or merely tied to one individual’s personality. Nigeria has seen many agencies improve under reform-minded leaders only to decline after their departure.

For JAMB, the challenge now is sustainability.

Still, regardless of what happens next, Oloyede’s tenure has already secured a place in Nigeria’s education history.

At 71, with adult children and grandchildren, the professor appears to be approaching the close of an unusually influential public service career. Yet the remarks by the Minister of State for Education suggested that retirement may not entirely remove him from national assignments anytime soon.

Indeed, in Nigeria, experienced technocrats with proven records are rarely allowed to disappear quietly.

For students, parents, university administrators, and policymakers, the end of Oloyede’s tenure represents more than the exit of a registrar. It symbolizes the conclusion of a defining reform era at JAMB — one that changed how many Nigerians viewed a once-troubled institution.

And in a society often hungry for examples of effective public leadership, that legacy may endure far beyond the final admissions policy meeting in 2026.

– Abdulkarim Abdulmalik is a journalist and Chairman, Governing Board, Guild of Interfaith Media Practitioners Nigeria (GIMP-Nigeria).