Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is set to step down as Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), bringing to a close a ten-year tenure that fundamentally reshaped Nigeria’s tertiary admissions landscape.
Oloyede assumed duty as JAMB Registrar on 9th August, 2016 and was reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2021 for a second five-year term, a tenure that runs through to 2026. His exit marks the end of one of the most consequential leadership stints in the board’s history.
During his decade in charge, Oloyede oversaw a dramatic transformation of JAMB’s finances and operations. For some 38 years before his arrival, JAMB was able to remit to the coffers of the Federal Government only about ₦50 million in total, but in the years under Oloyede, the board remitted approximately ₦55 billion.
He also introduced stringent anti-malpractice measures, including biometric verification, CCTV monitoring, and real-time data analytics to curb cheating and impersonation, and launched the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) to ensure merit-based and transparent admissions into Nigerian tertiary institutions.
His tenure was not without controversy. In May 2025, Oloyede broke down in tears at a press conference in Abuja as he apologised to parents and candidates for errors that led to the failure of nearly 400,000 candidates in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), acknowledging that the mass failure resulted from a systemic error that affected the grading process.
Despite calls from some quarters for his resignation following the incident, Oloyede completed the 2026 examination cycle, with the government yet to announce his successor as Nigeria prepares for a new chapter at the nation’s most critical admissions body.
