Inside Prof Ishaq Oloyede’s 70 years of impactful service career, By Kunle Akogun

As he attains the Platinum age of 70 on October 10, 2024, Professor Is’haq Olanrewaju Oloyede’s public service trajectory has marked him out as a rare breed Nigerian, who is apparently immune to the general malaise bedevilling the nation’s socio-economic milieu. Here is a university don whose entire public service record radiates transparency, accountability, single-minded commitment to service excellence, administrative acumen, dogged commitment to the achievement of set goals, undiluted integrity, effortless exhibition of leadership by example and unapologetic insistence on fairness to all!

In the face of a national feeling of hopelessness, despondency and unending apprehension over whether anything good could ever come out of Nigeria, fuelled by a near general belief that the country is probably primed for failure or even decidedly doomed to perdition, the actions of a few exceptional Nigerians tend to elicit a glimmer of exultation. The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is one of these rare breed Nigerians, who have rejected the way we do things here and are frantically proving to us all that Nigeria, our own dear fatherland, can indeed be made to work for Nigerians, function properly and take its rightful place in the committee of sane nations.

This audacious public servant became a household name nationwide during his tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin between 2007 and 2012, having largely succeeded in turning the second generation University to a world class institution. This, he achieved by dint of hard work, resilience, consistency, tenacity of purpose, innovative ideas, and unparalleled team spirit.

As Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB, Professor Oloyede is leaving no stone unturned in his relentless pursuit of academic excellence through which he ensured that admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria is transparent and credible. Apart from ensuring and sustaining the unassailable integrity of the tertiary institutions’ admission process, another remarkable feat of JAMB under Professor Oloyede’s watch is the yearly remittance of huge funds, running into billions of naira, to the Federal Government’s coffers.

Born on October 10, 1954 in Abeokuta, in the present Ogun State, Prof. Oloyede graduated in 1981 with a First Class Honours from the University of Ilorin where he also bagged his Master and Ph.D degrees in 1985 and 1991, respectively. He became a Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence in 1995.

Professor Oloyede was the first alumnus of the University of Ilorin to become its Vice Chancellor. So, if a diligent research is to be carried out on the secret behind his super exemplary performance as the head of the University, it may not be surprising to find out that one of the reasons might not be unconnected with a certain innate patriotic zeal to take his alma mater to an enviable height never before witnessed in the annals of the institution. And so, within a period of five years, this celebrated academic and consummate administrator succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the institution from an unranked University to the best in Nigeria and one of the best 20 in Africa.

Among the crucial areas in which he made his marks, which, in turn made the University of Ilorin to become the talk-of-the-town and the toast of admission seekers, were his uncompromising attention to time management, keen focus on technological development, relentless attention to staff training and retraining, commitment to clean and green environment, massive infrastructural development, unprecedented commitment to staff and students’ welfare, strict enforcement of discipline, as well as unwavering attention to innovation. He also instilled academic integrity, financial prudence and general fiduciary transparency in running the affairs of the University.

Professor Oloyede also placed the University of Ilorin on the technological super highway with his deliberate policy of putting Information and Communication Technology on the front burner.

As part of his digitisation efforts, Professor Oloyede initiated and pioneered the Computer-Based Test (CBT) method for the post-JAMB screening of candidates for admission into the University and also for internal large class examinations in the University. This system, which was initially pooh-poohed in many academic circles, has now been adopted by almost all tertiary education institutions and several government establishments and some private organisations in the country not only for examination-related screenings but also for employment purposes.

In his five-year stint as Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Oloyede literally changed the University’s skyline with the rapid spring-up of physical infrastructure in every nook and cranny of the campus.

Also to the credit of the Oloyede Administration was the establishment of the first campus radio station in the entire North-Central zone of the country, the Unilorin FM radio, in 2009.

Professor Oloyede’s commitment to a clean and green environment invariably turned the University campus to one of the best in the country. With a deliberate attention to environmental cleanliness and beautification, he embarked on massive landscaping of the campus with ornamental flowers planted at strategic areas on campus. Also as part of his green and clean initiative, Professor Oloyede embarked on massive planting of economic trees.

That the University of Ilorin is now entirely cultism-free, could be traced to Professor Oloyede administration’s zero tolerance to the menace of cultism and other anti-social behaviours. He also instituted the dress code, which forbids indecent dressing by students and staff of the University.

Professor Oloyede also instituted the weekly publication of the report of the University’s financial transaction report in the University Bulletin as a mark of his prudence and transparency.

For Professor Oloyede, the JAMB appointment in 2016 was another opportunity to showcase his well-known credentials of administrative acumen, financial discipline and legendary transparency in public service.

Moving to JAMB with that messianic mindset of a missionary, the erudite Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence set off immediately on assumption of office to set new operational standards, literally putting a break to administrative drudgery, financial malfeasance, and general staff lackadaisical attitude to work, it was not long before every staff of that central admission processing agency knew for sure that a new Sheriff was indeed at JAMB. Not a few attempts were made by some of those who were not comfortable with the new wind of change sweeping through the organisation to sabotage the new efforts or even ground its operations to a halt. But, with the timely deployment of his administrative acumen, the new Registrar was able to neutralise all those satanic attempts to thwart the new progressive efforts in no time.

Some of Professor Oloyede’s indelible footprints at JAMB include the introduction of the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), which automates the admission process; the institution of Equal Opportunity Group for the conduct of the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for Blind Candidates; the expansion of the capacities of CBT centres for standardisation purposes; the introduction of E-Ticketing (for Complaints; the introduction of the Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) for prompt delivery of admissions requirements; the use of Biometric Authentication to confirm validity of registration, the introduction of E-slip printing; the introduction of management dashboard to monitor registration and admission exercise real time; the use of CCTV cameras in all CBT centres to monitor the examination and registration process real time; and exemplary funds management; as well as prudent and judicious use of JAMB’s financial resources.

Not only has he instituted an enhanced welfare scheme for JAMB staff members that greatly boosts their morale, and is positively changing their attitudes to work, Prof. Oloyede’s messianic tenure has substantially restored the sanctity of the Board’s main mandate: the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME). And, as evident in all the eight admission exercises he has superintended so far, JAMB’s technology has considerably improved, with high level of transparency and advanced networking. The scrapping of the traditional scratch card system for checking results is another positive rebellion by this audacious JAMB helmsman. And the drastic reduction in the application fees is a serious relief to sundry admission seekers and their parents and guardians.

But by far the most remarkable feat by any non-revenue yielding MDA in the country is the consistent remittance by Prof. Oloyede’s JAMB of whopping sums of money in billions of naira to the Federal Government coffers in each of the last eight years. This is indeed novel in a country where even some MDAs that were specifically and originally established to collect revenue for the government often turn round to ask the same government for extra-budgetary bail-outs to augment their overheads!

Indeed, the entire public service career of Professor Oloyede is an open book of worthy lessons for all, especially incumbent and aspiring public servants and political office holders. The erudite scholar exemplifies the very best in moral values that any public official should imbibe. Indeed, he is the face of the new Nigeria that many fervently pray and yearn for.

Mr Akogun is the Director, Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin