NewsProbe News from Nigeria and Around the world
In Plato’s magnus opus, ‘The Republic’, what constitutes an ideal society is outlined. Essentially, the underlying principles include justice, education, meritocracy and the pursuit of greater good rather than individual desires. In Nigeria’s ideal republic, Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede fits into the picture Plato painted. This uncommon Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is not just honest, accountable and diligent, he is what one may call the best candidate for the award of Nigeria’s highest national honour. But this may not be possible for now because ours is a society where mediocrity, corruption and warped values are elevated to the pinnacle of state policies.
In this season of protests against bad governance, it has become imperative to project not just some public officers who should be shamed but also those who should be emulated. Last week, I called for the resignation of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. Not that these two public officers are the only sinners in this current government. No, but theirs have become cardinal sins that need special confession and atonement before ever they are accepted back into our ideal republic.
Today, we will examine Oloyede, whose antecedents are well known. Born on October 10, 1954, at Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oloyede is a professor of Islamic Studies. He attended Progressive Institute, Agege Lagos for his secondary education between 1969 and 1973. Between 1973 and 1976, he learned Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Arabic Training Centre Agege, Lagos. In 1977, he received a certificate in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Ibadan. In 1981, he obtained a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Arabic at the University of Ilorin and a doctorate degree in Islamic Studies at the same University of Ilorin in 1991. He won many scholarships and prizes as a student.
Oloyede became a professor in 1995 and elected Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Ilorin in 2007. He spent five years as the VC and transformed his university as one of the highly-ranked in Africa and the most sought-after university in Nigeria. He held several other important positions before former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him the Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB in 2016.
He has so piloted the affairs of JAMB that it has become the envy of many other institutions in Nigeria. Between 1978 and 2016 when Oloyede assumed office, JAMB had cumulatively remitted less than N50 million to the Federal Government coffers. But under Oloyede, the Board has continued to remit billions of naira to the Federal Government annually. In 2017 alone, it remitted N7.8 billion. Subsequently, it increased the internally generated revenue and embarked on physical and human development of the institution. Recently, Vice-President Kashim Shettima extolled Oloyede, saying he was the first JAMB Registrar who made over N50 billion for the Federal Government within one year. This is unlike his predecessors who remitted not more than N5 million per annum. He is able to do this because he blocked the loopholes through which fraudsters loot public treasury.
For his leadership skills, Oloyede won numerous awards. He was honoured with the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2014. He also received the honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2022. In 2019, he received the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) award, and the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (Education Category) in 2022. He is a life member of NANS Hall of Fame, among other awards. He is also a member of different professional associations as well as being a Fellow of the Islamic Academy of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Fellow, Academy of Letters, Fellow of Entrepreneurship, Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Management, among others.
JAMB under Oloyede has continued to wage battles against illegal admissions in many Nigerian tertiary institutions. Between 2017 and 2020, about 706,189 illegal admissions were reportedly offered to students in many of these higher institutions. For 2022/2023 academic session, about 88 tertiary institutions allegedly made such illegal admissions. Authorities of JAMB explained that before 2017, there were different irregularities in the admission processes of the universities. In 2017, the Board made attempts to sanitize the system by introducing the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) to ensure transparency and credibility of admissions. This requires that every prospective undergraduate must pass through this system before their admission could be recognized as being genuine.
Some universities still bypassed this process and issued admission to candidates. They allegedly colluded with the students to falsify vital records to enable them to participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. But these students encountered problems along the line because they did not have JAMB admission letter in the first place.
In its magnanimity, government granted waivers to about one million candidates illegally admitted between 2017 and 2020. After 2020, no institution is expected to admit any candidate outside CAPS. But many of our tertiary institutions still failed to comply with this rule. And that is where the present problem lies. JAMB has given a one-month deadline starting from August 1, 2024 for tertiary institutions to disclose candidates admitted illegally before 2017. After this deadline, there will not be waiver anymore for illegal admissions given before 2017.
Oloyede and his Board do recognize the enormous damage illegal admissions have done to the psychology of the affected students when they fail to advance in their post-graduation endeavours or even go for the NYSC scheme. They realise the image problem; the inaccurate statistics of the number of students in our tertiary institutions, which illegal admissions have caused the country. They understand the low standards our education system has suffered because of illegal admissions. Hence, their unrelenting efforts to sanitise the admission processes in our tertiary institutions.
It is pertinent to note that not everybody likes what Oloyede is doing. Some stakeholders in these higher institutions believe that JAMB is undermining the University Autonomy Act in its reform efforts. But this is far from the truth. It is better to have a strict, centralized policy, where set-down standards are maintained than leaving the admission process open to universities where corrupt officials abuse the process to accommodate less qualified candidates who pay bribes to gain admission.
Good enough, Oloyede has always stood his ground anytime he is defending a good cause no matter what the forces of retrogression do. Last year, the nation woke up to behold what later came to be called the Mmesoma saga. The story is that Miss Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme claimed to have got the highest score of 362 over 400 to emerge the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). People hailed her. Innoson Automobile Company offered her N3m worth of scholarship. JAMB debunked this claim. Out of ignorance and sentiments, a number of people demanded the crucifixion of JAMB. It later turned out that the Board was right. Ejikeme owned up to her error and apologized for forging her result.
Oloyede is clear evidence that Nigerians are not all bad. Across different parts of the world, our citizens have excelled in various life endeavours. They are among the best medical doctors, academics and public officials in some of these foreign countries.
But a few bad eggs have so soiled the image of the country that people now see us first as fraudsters, drug peddlers, ritual killers, bandits and terrorists. At airports in many parts of the world, Nigerians are singled out for thorough searching, a situation which has become embarrassing to many citizens.
What Nigeria needs now is accountable, disciplined and transparent leadership to galvanise citizens and change her fortunes for good. Nigerians desire a change. They came out in 2023 general election to effect that change. But the same few bad eggs suppressed them, rigged themselves into power and have continued to torment the people. But nothing lasts forever. Elsewhere, dynasties have crumbled. Emperors have been defeated. Crooked politicians have been humbled and disgraced. The Nigerian situation will not be different. It will end one day. Before then, I want to thank Oloyede for his efforts. We need more people like him in our public institutions. Let’s toast to his long life, prosperity, more blessings and elevation where his impact will be felt more by the generality of the people.
#EndBadGovernance: How I feel about Akpabio, Onanuga
Casmir, it’s unfortunate that, when all hands are supposed to be on deck towards lifting Nigeria out of the doldrums in which it has found itself, Akpabio and Bayo Onanuga chose to do otherwise! Releasing careless utterances pre and during the ‘successful protests’ aggravated the already tensed atmosphere. Akpabio is on the bright side of life in Nigeria, hence, his jocular dispositions towards serious national issues. He doesn’t have the faintest idea of what an average Nigerian is going through at the moment. Onanuga in contrast looks like the mean, war mongering type. They are adept at sowing seeds of discord amongst Nigerians. ‘Igbo must go’ promoters are symptomatically imbecilic! They belong to the stone age era. They should be identified and dealt with by applying the same force of the law that govt applies to separatists! These acts must be nipped in the bud before they snowball into an unwarranted calamitous situation. Tinubu gave us a ‘progress report’ instead of addressing the demands of protesters.
-Mike, Mushin, 0816 111 4572
•Also published in the Daily Sun of Monday, August 12, 2024
