Folarin Kehinde

President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has been called to, as a matter of national importance and for his educational policies to succeed, sack the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB, Prof. Isaq Oloyede for policy summersault and for his inability to align JAMB along the educational policy of the current admission.

For almost 10 years, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Isaq Oloyede has been at the helms of affairs of the institution since his appointment by former President, Muhammadu Buhari with many policy irregularities linked to his track records.

In 2017, a lopsided and one-sided policy adopted by JAMB led to an avoidable fracas between JAMB and Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) University of Ibadan Chapter with the like of Dr Deji Omole calling on the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede to voluntarily resign from office for his lack of visionary leadership.

The Academic Union also asked the former Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu to call the registrar to order to lessen the difficulty being experienced by the candidates. The JAMB leader Prof. Isaq is has continued to bring out policies without consultation with other stakeholders in the educational sector. Such policies have always become a log on the wheel of educational policy in Nigeria.

Dr Omole said the board had outlived its usefulness and the best thing is to scrap it and allow universities design their standard examination for their own candidates.

He noted that the fact that a mock examination was stopped due to logistic reasons underscored the point of incompetence of the Registrar, noting that if candidates could not do mock, how sure are they to pass the examination.

“Why will anybody make life difficult for candidates whose parents are struggling to live under the terrible condition the government has made them to live in?”

“Why would somebody introduce changes that are only known by members of the board? We have made case for the scrapping of this body because in the present instance, the introduction of different registration procedures has turned candidates to victims of fraud.”

“While different centres now make business by arranging with private schools who bring all their students in group to come and register, children of the masses who cannot afford such privileges look on in despair and helplessness.”

“This is a failed approach to change and the Registrar admitted this with the cancellation of the mock examination. How can we ensure that the candidates prepare well for the exams when they spend weeks waiting for Personal Identification Number and are at the mercy of registration officers who force them to go to cybercafes where they have arrangements to first create their profile before they can have their PIN”

“This is where people are duping Nigerian children. This is a total failure. Students must have at least three months for registration, its procedure must be open and their options to public universities must not be limited to serve the agenda of the proprietors of private universities”, he argued.

In 2018, the nation went agog with the news of a whopping sum of N36m reportedly swallowed by snake under the watch of Oloyede, according to report a “mystery snake” sneaked into JAMB accounts office and made away with the N36m cash, the money was said to be from the purchases of scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centres.

Recently, JAMB allocated a whooping ₦1.1 billion for staff meals in its 2025 budget, describing it as a measure to enhance productivity and protect sensitive ICT infrastructure, one would wonder if the institution is meant for eating and drinking alone.

To put this in context, early this year a sacked deputy director of the JAMB, Mr Yisa Usman, alluded to the corruption in the institution when he told the Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, that he faced threats for exposing corruption at the board.

Usman disclosed this during cross-examination as sole witness in the suit he instituted against JAMB over his alleged unlawful dismissal.

While the controversy about either post UTME should be abolished or not (another milk cow), the current challenges facing prospective candidates applying for 2025 UTME is more worrisome, a check by this medium discovered students at Kado JAMB zonal office, Abuja over-crowded under the scorching sun waiting to be attended to. The board had stated that it has commenced the accreditation of centres, a critical first step in preparation for the annual examination. The board stated that “All new Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres who desire to participate in the 2025 UTME exercise are to first visithttps://www.jamb.gov.ng/Pdfs/CBT_centre_requirements.pdf to avail themselves of the requirements for establishing a JAMB-approved CBT centre.”

To avoid stampede as recorded in 2017 at the JAMB office in Ikoyi, Lagos which many candidates sustained various degrees of injuries and to end irregularities and corruption in the institution with no end, it is high time President Bola Tinubu immediately sack Prof Isaq Oloyede or he voluntarily resign immediately.