Professor Ishaq Oloyede’s Impressive Time at JAMB

Nigerians usually don't say goodbye to public servants when they leave office. But Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who was the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) until July 31, has been getting lots of praises for his great work. His time at JAMB will surely be remembered for a long time. Professor Segun Aina has taken over the role.

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Oloyede in August 2016. His early actions showed that he was determined to make a difference. Right until the end, he focused on major reforms, new ideas, accountability, and honesty in managing JAMB. This helped pull the organization out of the mess left by previous leaders.

One of his first big moves was in 2017 when he sent an impressive ₦7.86 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation as surplus revenue. This surprised the nation because in the years before, the annual remittance was just around ₦3 million.

By 2022, JAMB had sent ₦50 billion to the national treasury over six years. This was striking compared to the ₦52 million total that all his predecessors sent in 40 years of JAMB's existence. Oloyede also lowered the cost for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) forms by ₦1,500, which brought relief to many parents.

The changes in JAMB's finances caught President Buhari's attention in a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. He asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to investigate the past leaders of JAMB. This led to 18 criminal charges against Oloyede's predecessor in court since 2021. Sadly, the case has been stuck in a cycle of delays.

But making money was not Oloyede’s only goal. He knew that integrity in the UTME was essential. He built on the introduction of the Computer Based Test (CBT) that started in 2013. Oloyede fully implemented it, ending the old paper exam system that was often inefficient and full of cheating.

The CBT system helped make exams fairer. Candidates sitting next to each other had no idea what questions or answers the other had. Although some candidates tried to cheat, Oloyede was prepared. He installed Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in exam halls. In April 2019, for example, 123 cheaters were caught and quickly prosecuted.

JAMB also removed 76 CBT centers in Bauchi State, where the most cheating occurred. Lagos and Sokoto had five each. In total, 23 states were involved in this cheating. States like Abia, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Ekiti, Delta, Gombe, Borno, Oyo, Rivers, Plateau, Enugu, Edo, Ebonyi, Adamawa, and the Federal Capital Territory were also on this list.

Many people don’t know that Nigeria has the Examination Malpractices Act of 1999. Before Oloyede, it was not used properly. He made sure that anyone caught cheating in the UTME faced prosecution. The law says that candidates, invigilators, and others involved in cheating could go to prison for four years.

As more candidates wanted to get into schools, cheating centers grew. But Oloyede tightened control with a biometric fingerprint verification process. Still, 244 WhatsApp cheating groups were found during the 2025 UTME.

He also faced issues with university vice-chancellors who admitted students illegally. To address this, he introduced the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS). This helped to separate real admissions from illegal ones. It worked well with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to verify graduates who used JAMB’s admission portal.

This helped over 4,000 graduates each year who needed their admissions regularized by the Minister of Education to join the NYSC. CAPS also reduced cases of fake call-up letters among non-graduates at NYSC camps.

Oloyede also secured funding for JAMB’s projects. He left behind ₦8 billion in pension funds for JAMB workers just a month before he stepped down. This is something to commend!

But Oloyede’s time wasn’t all smooth. In 2025, he faced backlash due to many UTME candidates failing because of technical problems during the exam. Data showed 1.5 million candidates scored below 200 out of 400 marks, which is 78 percent of the 1.9 million who took the exam. Only 4,756 candidates, or 0.24 percent, scored over 320. Lagos and Owerri had the worst results.

To fix this, JAMB allowed 379,997 candidates to re-sit the exam after a report from a technical team. The company Educare, which handled the situation, said that the servers in Lagos and the South-East had outdated systems that couldn't handle the new question format. Oloyede admitted the mistakes and apologized to Nigerians, especially to the affected candidates. This showed strong leadership.

There was also the case of ₦36 million that a JAMB employee, Philomina Chieshe, claimed a snake swallowed at its Benue office. This was never resolved properly as the suspect was not made to face justice. However, this incident happened before Oloyede took office.

Overall, Oloyede’s time at JAMB reminds us of Professor Dora Akunyili’s work at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). It highlights the need for building strong institutions for Nigeria’s growth.