Outgoing Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has described leaving the examination body better than he met it as the greatest achievement of his 10-year tenure.
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Oloyede spoke on Friday during a formal handover ceremony at the JAMB headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, where he transferred leadership of the Board to his successor, Professor Segun Aina.
The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin was first appointed JAMB Registrar in August 2016 by former President Muhammadu Buhari and reappointed for a second term in August 2021.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Aina in May 2026 to succeed Oloyede upon the expiration of his second and final tenure on July 31. Aina is a Professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and the youngest person appointed to lead JAMB.
Reflecting on his decade in office, Oloyede said the transformation recorded under his leadership represented his most significant contribution to the Board.
“I did not leave JAMB worse than I met it; that is my greatest achievement,” he said.
Oloyede recalled that upon assuming office, he outlined five cardinal principles that would guide his administration: welfare, discipline, technology, transparency and networking.
“When I took over the mandate of leadership at JAMB, I outlined five cardinal points that my administration would be anchored on in ‘Let’s Do It Together: The Biggest Room in the World’,” he said.
“These cardinal points are welfare, discipline, technology, transparency and networking. In these five, though perfection belongs to Almighty Allah, I can confidently say we tried our best.”
The outgoing registrar said his administration began its reforms by prioritising staff welfare, strengthening existing institutional structures and ensuring that deserving employees received promotions when due.
According to him, JAMB committed more than ₦8 billion to strengthening employees’ retirement savings and improving their overall financial security.
He said the Board introduced retirement packages of between ₦3 million and ₦10 million for departing staff and an additional annual salary bonus commonly described as the 13th-month salary.
“We committed over ₦8 billion to strengthening employees’ retirement savings and their overall financial stability, provided ‘retirement handshakes’ of between ₦3 million and ₦10 million to retiring staff and introduced an extra annual salary bonus called 13th-month salary to boost staff morale,” he said.
Oloyede added that examination-duty incentives were introduced at 10 per cent and later increased to 20 per cent, while employees were provided with free daily meals.
He disclosed that the Board also intervened in the medical treatment of staff members, including committing ₦12 million towards the treatment of one employee at the National Hospital.
Exceptional employees, he said, were rewarded with cash prizes and awards, while a JAMB zonal office and a complex of Professional Test Centres and Professional Registration Centres were named after a member of staff in recognition of hard work and resilience.
Oloyede said the welfare initiatives extended beyond employees to candidates and tertiary institutions.
He stated that the cost of applying for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination was reduced by 30 per cent during his tenure.
The Board also supported tertiary institutions through the National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award, through which approximately ₦750 million was distributed annually to deserving institutions.
While his administration prioritised welfare, Oloyede said it did not tolerate indiscipline, revealing that more than 10 members of staff were prosecuted at various times over alleged misconduct.
He recalled the widely reported 2017 incident in which a JAMB employee claimed that a snake swallowed ₦36 million generated from the sale of examination scratch cards.
“The sensationalised case of a snake gulping ₦36 million that the media feasted on was just one of the measures taken to entrench discipline,” he said.
Oloyede recalled that the EFCC reacted at the time by declaring that an “eagle” would show no mercy to money-swallowing snakes.
He maintained that discipline remained central to JAMB’s operations and contributed to the Board’s remittance of tens of billions of naira in operating surpluses to the Federal Government.
“I share the belief that we must all suffer either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment,” he said.
“This is why discipline is incontestable as a cardinal principle of JAMB operations, and that accounts for the well-known remittances of scores of billions in operational surpluses to the government treasury.”
On technology, Oloyede said his administration strengthened the Computer-Based Testing system and introduced innovations intended to protect examination and admission integrity.
He listed the Central Admissions Processing System, advanced biometric and identity verification, closed-circuit television monitoring, digital personal identification numbers and payment systems among the reforms.
Other innovations included the Remote Authoring and Moderation System and the broader digital transformation of JAMB’s institutional operations.
“Scaling up of Computer-Based Test, improvement of digital architecture, creating the Central Admissions Processing System, advanced biometric and identity verification, CCTV monitoring, digital PINs and payments, as well as the Remote Authoring and Moderation System and institutional digital transformation are some of the steps taken to make our operations seamless on rock-solid integrity,” he said.
Oloyede disclosed that JAMB had also commenced preparations for the Bring Your Own Device initiative, expressing confidence that the new administration would perfect and fully implement it.
He, however, acknowledged that technology was not infallible, pointing to the technical failures that disrupted the 2025 UTME and forced the Board to reschedule the examination for hundreds of thousands of affected candidates.
According to him, the incident demonstrated the limitations of technology and the need for constant vigilance, institutional accountability and continuous improvement.
Oloyede said JAMB’s achievements were also made possible through cooperation with state governors, educational institutions and security and anti-corruption agencies.
He commended the Office of the National Security Adviser, the EFCC, the State Security Service, the National Intelligence Agency and the Nigeria Police Force for their support during his tenure.
The outgoing registrar expressed confidence that Aina’s technological expertise, energy and relative youth would enable him to take the Board beyond its current achievements.
“I wish my successor, Professor Segun Aina, great success, and his success is the success of all of us who have been privileged to steer JAMB since its inception,” he said.
“My belief is that the advantage and vibrancy of his younger age and his ICT expertise would propel the Board to higher heights than previously attained. He can rest assured of my advice if and when it is required.”
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