Oloyede’s exit from JAMB: End of an era!

Since the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said Ahmad, announced at the last stakeholders’ meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), that the tenure of its Registrar, Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, would soon be up (specifically on July 31, 2026), the mood has been mournful in many quarters. The meeting, officially tagged “The 2026 JAMB Admission Policy Meeting”, was held on Monday, 11 May, 2026 in Abuja. This contrasts sharply with the mood in some other quarters after Manchester City, away to Bournemouth, could only manage a one-all draw last Tuesday, thus handing over the Premier League title to Arsenal with a match to play. Arsenal’s long wait for the title – 22 dreary years – thus came to an end in a dramatic fashion. Thank God, Arsenal fans who suffer suspense each time the team plays, also got relief – until 30 May when they square up to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the UEFA Champions League final.

I am not a die-hard fan of any foreign or local football club but I love to see the present crop of Arsenal players win matches. When they lost this year’s Carabao or English Football League Cup final to Manchester City, I mourned. Each time the team stumbled, I hated to tune in and watch the match. These days, I avoid watching live matches in which I am emotionally involved. I am sure you know what I mean. If the team I want to win wins, then I can sit down and enjoy the playback; otherwise, I either don’t watch the match at all or wait for the pain to wear out before doing so. But for matches where I have no strings attached, I can watch anyhow. So, congratulations, Arsenal! For no reason at all – or for the fact that journalists habitually side with the underdogs – I harbour no regrets about Man. City’s strident challenge that raised the adrenalin of many Arsenal fans now being over! Between Arsenal and PSG, some pundits say the latter is the better side, but by now you know where my sympathy lies. Nevertheless, may the better – and luckier – side win!

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I hope you don’t mind this digression! As they say, all work and no play… That Oloyede would one day quit his job at JAMB was as clear as day follows night. So, why the anguish now that his time to bow out is around the corner? His job is tenure barred – five years at the first instance, with the opportunity for a second term of another five years, making a total of 10 years – barring any presidential intervention. I think former President Muhammadu Buhari started the system of elongating the tenure of those who have already served the limit allowed by extant laws. His successor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has followed in his footsteps. So, it is possible that the president may ask Oloyede to continue in office – if Oloyede himself so desires – while searching for a suitable replacement who can step into the extra-large shoes Oloyede is leaving behind. It will be a grievous error of judgment if a suitable replacement is not found for Oloyede. Having tasted the pudding that Oloyede is, I do not think conscious stakeholders will want to settle for anything less.

Oloyede and the media

The constituency that will mourn Oloyede’s exit most is the media. Oloyede has been a reliable friend of the media and the media in return has been a worthy ally of the outgoing JAMB Registrar; not necessarily because of what Oloyede gives the media but because of the quality of the relationship that he painstakingly built and nurtured with the media. To start with, the media trades in news and Oloyede is a newsman’s delight anytime, any day. When you see Oloyede, you see news, as it were. Oloyede has no airs around him. He is easily accessible. The kind of protocol that bars journalists from coming close to our “big” men and women is missing around Oloyede. And his aides know this. Rather than get accolades from Oloyede for fencing off “nosy” reporters, they are most likely going to attract a rebuke if they do. You wonder why others in Oloyede’s shoes are not like him.

I will tell you why! Oloyede is always on top of his job. He has all the facts and figures any journalist will need at his fingertips, laiwo’we (without opening any book), as they say! Oloyede harbours no skeletons in his cupboard; if there is a mistake or error, he is ready and forthright not only to admit it, but to also be the first to draw your attention to it, even when you are not aware they exist. He is an open book, rather than engaging in any cover-up. Instead of sweeping things under the carpet, he is always eager to make the needed corrections so that untoward occurrences do not repeat themselves. Oloyede has demonstrated this again and again, to the admiration of even his critics.

Oloyede is a fighter; a reformer. The mafia involved in examination malpractice will not forget him in a hurry. He fought them to a standstill. Admissions racketeers as well. These twosome will surely celebrate his exit from JAMB! The operations of JAMB have witnessed exponential transformation under Oloyede; technology has been utilised not only to make day-to-day operations seamless but to also make a hitherto opaque system open, transparent and accountable.

Oloyede leads by personal example; he also keeps innovating; never resting on his oars. At every meeting, he is sure to come up with a new system that has been designed to make JAMB examinations more foolproof and the entire system easier to understand and operate.

Oloyede’s unending wits

Oloyede is a man of candour, wits and humour – and that is where I as a person will miss him most. At every meeting, Oloyede will make you laugh. Even when discussing serious matters like the perennial problem of illegal admissions and admissions cut-off marks, he did so in ways and manners that allowed the bitter truth to sink in a jovial and humorous manner.

“Where is so-and-so Vice-chancellor”, he would ask when the issue of illegal admissions is being discussed. When the said V-C’s representative stands up to indicate he is standing in for the V-C, Oloyede would say, “I know he will not be here because he knows we will discuss the issue of illegal admissions!”

Or when the vice-chancellors, provosts and rectors are about to take a decision on their respective institution’s cut-off marks for admission, Oloyede would call out some names and say something like: “So, so, and so V-C, you better say the truth now. Don’t say 200 here now and come later to my office and beg for 180 o!”

On one occasion the microphone was being passed round during question-and-answer session. One lady seated in a corner of the expansive hall had been raising up her hand unnoticed; Oloyede then called attention to her: “I can see one beautiful lady raising up her hand in that corner…” Before the murmurs that greeted the statement had died down, he added, “I am a Mallam but I have eyes…” The hall erupted!

Oloyede will be sorely missed. He has done really well. Whether or not he is asked to continue – or he is willing to do so – he has set a record that can only be beaten, but that was never before set. And this has all ramifications. It only remains for us to wish him well in all his future endeavours.

I once said there was no need for the country to waste billions of Naira on elections now and again, but that we should simply headhunt for some of our best hands and toss the coin for them. Head or tail…! Oloyede was one of those I recommended. The others were the NDLEA boss, Mohamed Buba Marwa; a recently-retired judge of the Kogi State judiciary, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, currently a Law professor at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); and the Managing Director of BOVAS Group, Mrs. Victoria Adunola Samson, who was recently appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Osun State (UNIOSUN). As we often say in this profession, I stand by my story!

While the country waited with bated breath for the decision of the oracle in this matter, I must add that the acid test is not just who succeeds Oloyede at JAMB but whether his successor(s) will allow his good and great work to endure. Will they build on the fantastic foundations of credibility, integrity, professionalism and efficiency he has laid or will they dismantle them and return the organisation to business as usual?

While it is true that leadership matters a lot, Oloyede was not the only one who performed the feat we are talking about at JAMB; those who worked closely with him also played a role. Will they be allowed to continue or will “reorganisation” uproot and send them to Siberia, as it were? The robust media relations that Oloyede cultivated and nurtured were indispensable factors in his success story. Kudos to the amiable Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s media adviser, and I doff my hat for my boss and mentor, Comrade (Alhaji) Nojeem Jimoh, the irrepressible media consultant, for the great job they and their team did for Oloyede at JAMB.

We await the next line of action!

NB: This column was put to bed before the Presidency announced Professor Segun Aina as the in-coming JAMB Registrar. We shall welcome the new helmsman at a later date!