Nigeria: Ishaq Oloyede's Remarkable Leadership At JAMB

What the report says

Premium Times, republished by AllAfrica, published an editorial on August 17, 2026 assessing the tenure of Professor Ishaq Oloyede as Registrar of Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The piece says Oloyede, appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2016, left office on July 31 after a period that it describes as marked by reforms, tighter accountability and improved public confidence in the agency.

The editorial highlights several changes it credits to his leadership, including the shift toward computer-based testing, stronger monitoring of examination halls, and the use of biometric verification and the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) to curb cheating and unauthorized admissions. It also points to JAMB’s stronger financial remittances to the federal treasury, noting a large surplus in 2017 and a much higher cumulative remittance over subsequent years, alongside a reduction in UTME application fees. The article argues that these steps helped restore credibility to the admissions process and improve JAMB’s fiscal discipline.

The piece also notes controversies during Oloyede’s tenure, especially the 2025 UTME disruption linked to technical glitches, which affected many candidates and led JAMB to organize a resit. According to the editorial, Oloyede publicly accepted responsibility and apologized. It concludes that his record is significant in the wider context of Nigerian public-sector reform, while naming Professor Segun Aina as his successor.