I watched Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of Jamb, broke down in tears amidst apologies to UTME candidates affected by glitches during the course of the last UTME examination. Not many knew why a tough administrator like him fell into such emotional turmoil. Prof. Oloyede is an extremely punctilious, principled and goal driven administrator. He is passionately committed to excellence as Registrar of Jamb and those who work with him must bring out the best in them. Those who do know the broken and degenerate state of Jamb as a national examination body may not fully appreciate the incredible transformation that have taken place in the organization since Prof. Ishaq Oloyede tookas Registrar. He mercilessly cleaned up the terrible fraud ridden establishment and heavily invested in the digitalization of the Board’s entire operations. And for the past seven years or thereabout, the process beginning with enrollment of candidates right through the various stages till the conduct of the examination, the candidates are simply expected to interface with communication gadgets rather than left in hands of officials who may take undue advantage of the anxious and impressionable young candidates. This has resulted in near seamless operations and reduction of examination malpractices to the barest minimum. UTME exercise has increasingly become successful and flawless each year and the 2025 UTME was even more resoundingly so in most part of the country. Compared, with the past, it’s simply magical!
As General Monitor, I visited twelve CBT Centers in the 2025 UTME exercise and I have had the privilege of seeing the daily reports of my colleagues nation wide and I submit with highest sense of responsibility that in spite, of the discovery of errors in some parts of the country, the 2025 UTME examination still stands out as most successful in many critical respects. It’s unfortunate that about 300,000 candidates were affected by the glitches discovered shortly after the exercise but Nigerians must not lose sight of the fact that about two million candidates were verified to write the examination. It means about 1.7million candidates took the examination under conducive environment without glitches!
Prof. Oloyede did what is out of character in the public service by tendering profound public apology to the candidates, their parents and the general public. Worse errors dot public service programs in Nigeria but they were trivialized and swept under the carpet. He could have chosen to explain it away and quietly offer another chance to the candidates to write the examination as an act of magnanimity. But he jettisoned all forms of shenanigan and artifice. Nigerians should commend Prof. Oloyede not only for tendering public apology but for taken full responsibility of the technical glitches. When an operation is dependent on ICT platforms and systems, glitches occasionally occur anywhere. It’s comparable to what is called the ‘Printers Devil’ in the printing industry. Prof. Oloyede shed tears because he had put in so much in the service of Jamb and wanted his impeccable record to remain unstained. This incident, is in my opinion, is only a black dot in a huge mosaic of bright dots! It is absolutely nothing to worry about especially as proactive corrective measures have been taken.
– Aiyevbekpen John Osakue
Benin City
