Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the immediate past Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, has said the most painful experience of his decade at the Board was seeing parents plan and facilitate examination malpractice for their children and wards, describing it as parents “introducing their children and wards to the world of crime.”
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He spoke on Sunday on the THISDAY Live programme on Arise Television, two days after handing over to Professor Segun Aina, the new Registrar.
Asked to reflect on the highs and lows of his tenure, Oloyede identified one issue above all others.
“The most painful period of my experience in JAMB had to do with the level of involvement of parents in the organisation of examination malpractice. They are introducing their wards, their children, to the world of crime,” he stated.
“I think most of the candidates are not problematic. They are not the problem. The problem are the parents,” Oloyede said.
“Every time I was confronted with the reality of what parents were doing, most of the time I became very emotional about it, because I just felt that how on earth will people hate themselves, hate their future, to this level? Because it’s like, even if you have a deficiency, you wouldn’t want to pass the deficiency to the next generation. But that’s what many parents do,” he stated.
Asked to identify his lowest moment, he returned to the same subject: “For me it was a fine period. The only period when I would be at my lowest was whenever I confronted parents with their pranks, with what they do, and how involved they are in planning to introduce their children and wards into criminality. That is what I could consider as the lowest.”
Asked whether he intends to write his memoirs, Oloyede gave a detailed explanation of why he does not, and in the course of it disclosed a personal connection to one of the defining tragedies of Nigeria’s pro-democracy struggle.
“Recently I was at an interview and I enumerated how I had to be with the late Kudirat Abiola, may God bless her soul. How I had to be with her in her last 24 hours, 24 hours before she was killed. I was narrating the experience of how for about 24 hours we were together before the unfortunate assassination of Kudirat Abiola. May God bless her soul,” he stated.
“So there are so many things that I know, and many people know, that it is better you do not go back to,” Oloyede said.
Oloyede set out two reasons for declining to write his memoirs.
The first concerns accuracy. “When you talk of autobiography, people writing, some of them are so detailed that I look at them as either refurbished truth or something that looks like a drama that you must have acted, because some of them give the minutest details that I’ll be thinking, was it, at the time the action was happening, was it being recorded for later writing? You cannot be sure that what you are saying 20, 30 years after might be as accurate as they are called,” he stated.
The second concerns consequence. “Unless one wants to either create confusion in the society, create more enemies for the society, or cause trouble, there are many things you come to know that you better die with. I believe that if one wants to be truthful and to narrate all you had come across, you will be waking the dead and you will be creating enmity, or things that ought to be allowed to die, you will be waking them up,” Oloyede stated.
“I believe very strongly that those who write their autobiography, I respect them, because they know what to write and what not to write. But by my own nature, if I must say it, I would say everything, and some of the everything may not be good. For now, I do not intend to put up any write-up or to give a narration of what happened,” he stated.
Asked how it felt to wake up no longer responsible for JAMB, Oloyede described relief.
“I think it is a very relieving period. I feel very relieved. I could sleep very well. I enjoyed my sleep, and it was as if I had never slept before. We thank God. We also thank all of you who stood by us to make sure we did what we are supposed to do. So it is very, very exciting. I have been looking forward towards it, and when it finally came, I was very relieved and happy,” he stated.
Asked what reforms he would like his successor to continue, particularly in information technology, Oloyede said the question was misdirected.
“To me, it is like carrying coal to Newcastle. Professor Aina is a renowned professor of computer engineering, and I know that of course he will be better than me in that area. I believe very strongly that he is in a good position to even maximise the use of technology,” he stated.
“So for that, it is like it should be the other way, that he, being an expert in that field, should be the one to be urging those of us who are in the humanities to the value and use of technology. I have no doubt in my mind that, given his background, I believe he will do very well,” Oloyede said.
Asked whether JAMB should increase its application fee, and why JAMB was not mentioned when the Federal Government proposed increases for WAEC and NECO before reversing course after public outcry, Oloyede declined to answer publicly, on grounds of protocol.
“Unfortunately I am constrained not to try to evade your question. The simple reason is that everywhere I had served, as soon as I hand over the place, if I have any suggestion, decency, decorum and officialdom require that I will pass it. I will not do that through a public forum like this. I will, as much as possible, give my opinion to those charged with the responsibility of running it. An opinion that I give may become restrictive to a better decision that could be made,” he stated.
“I left some 24 hours ago, and you know 10 hours will be enough for changes to occur. I do not know what the facts will be today. So I believe that those who are entrusted with that will take the matter up immediately,” Oloyede said.
He added a general observation: “All that is important is that people should be aware that nothing is static anywhere, not just Nigeria. Decisions will have to be taken according to facts, according to situation. The fact that something was not done yesterday does not mean that that thing is not appropriate today or tomorrow. What is important is sincerity, commitment to the work and being focused on what one is doing, and of course the prayer that God will strengthen the institutions and strengthen the leadership to be able to take appropriate decisions.”
Asked about the celebrated 2017 report of a snake that allegedly swallowed N36 million belonging to JAMB, Oloyede clarified the timeline.
“The snake matter did not occur when I was there. It was just that I had the fortune, or the misfortune, that I had to address it. The matter had occurred before I assumed office, and it is just that as Registrar of JAMB I had to deal with the matter, and I thank God for the way I dealt with it,” he stated.
On the case of the candidate who falsified her UTME result, which became a national story, Oloyede said the reaction was disproportionate to the event.
“Most of the things that the public see about us and think are important, like the case you referred to, it was just sensationalised by a group of people who felt they wanted to defend her. We met more than 10 such cases. Even last year somebody still attempted something like that, and we dealt with that situation. It was a normal thing to us, but unfortunately the sensation that came along with it made it unique to others who are outside the institution,” he stated.
Reviewing his decade in office, Oloyede said none of his major decisions were accidental or coerced.
“None was done by accident. None was done because I had to do it. I did whatever I did because I believe that was the right thing to do. So I do not see anything I could have done differently,” he stated.
Oloyede also spoke about his background. He lost his mother at about four years old, too young to remember her, and was raised by his late father together with his maternal grandmother, living between Shomolu and Idi-Oro, and beginning his primary education at Ita Meta Primary School.
Asked what he attributes his rise to, having become the eighth Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Secretary-General of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, President of the Association of African Universities, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Fountain University, and Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, before becoming JAMB Registrar, he answered simply.
“It is the grace of God, and the support of all those who were around me,” Oloyede stated.
Oloyede was first appointed JAMB Registrar on August 9, 2016, by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, and was reappointed for a second term in August 2021. His tenure ended on July 31, 2026.
In May, President Bola Tinubu appointed Professor Segun Aina, a professor of computer engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as JAMB’s sixth Registrar. At 39, he is the youngest person ever to hold the position. The handover took place at the Board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, on Friday.
In his first speech as Registrar, Aina promised to protect JAMB’s integrity, invest more in technology to crack down on examination malpractice, and continue working closely with security agencies to keep the matriculation examinations credible.
Under Oloyede’s tenure, JAMB’s remittances to government coffers rose from about N50 million around 2016 to as much as N7.5 billion in revenue, without any increase in registration fees.
The interview was conducted on the THISDAY Live Sunday talk show on Arise Television.
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