In the wake of heated criticism and calls for his resignation, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has fired back at those questioning his leadership, saying they lack the credibility to advise him.
“Truck pushers cannot direct pilots,” Oloyede said during a stakeholders’ meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday. The gathering included JAMB’s chief external examiners and representatives of civil society organisations.
The backlash follows glitches and complaints from candidates during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with the South East Caucus of the House of Representatives among those asking the Registrar to step aside.
But Oloyede, known for his blunt style, was not having it.
He announced that a special mop-up exam will be organised for the roughly 5.6 per cent of candidates who missed the UTME for genuine reasons, including absentees.
“We are creating a new mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier exam due to absence will be given another opportunity. It is not extraordinary. In any academic setting, makeup exams are normal,” he explained.
On accusations of ethnic bias and conspiracies, the Registrar rejected the narrative outright.
“People say, ‘Where is he from?’ That never mattered to me. I’ve worked with people based on their competence, not their ethnicity. The idea that this is a conspiracy is baseless,” he said.
He urged Nigerians not to politicise education, warning that many of the complaints were being stirred up by misinformation and a lack of understanding of how the UTME works.
“UTME ranks candidates for available spaces in tertiary institutions. It is not the final measure of a student’s intelligence or future,” he reminded the audience.
He also stressed that admissions are not based on UTME scores alone, but include post-UTME tests and internal screening by institutions.
A sombre moment came when Oloyede addressed the suicide of 19-year-old candidate Opesusi Timilehin, who took her life after receiving a disappointing score. He called for a minute of silence in her honour and admitted the tragedy shook him deeply.
“That tragedy broke all of us. Unfortunately, there were also false reports. Some parents called me pretending their children had died, only to ask for money later,” he disclosed.
He said he had considered stepping down after the incident but was encouraged to stay.
“When this happened, my first reaction was to resign. But people advised me that the students will never forgive me. It would appear as though I abandoned them in their moment of need.”
While many expected an update on the rescheduled UTME results, Oloyede did not comment on it. However, JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, later assured journalists that the results would be released soon in an official press statement.
Oloyede rounded off the meeting by thanking stakeholders and pledging to keep pushing for a fairer and stronger exam system.
“Let us not descend to the level of opportunists exploiting challenges for personal or political gain. We will fix what went wrong and continue to build an examination system Nigeria can be proud of,” he said.
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