Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has denied resignation requests in the wake of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scandals.
At a meeting with stakeholders on Wednesday, which included Abuja’s civil society organizations and chief external examiners, Oloyede stated that resignation would have amounted to leaving the impacted students in their hour of need.
Calls for his resignation were also rejected by him, who implied that those who made them lacked the authority or moral authority to do so or to cast doubt on his leadership abilities.
He asserts that “pilots cannot be directed by truck pushers.”
When the whole ordeal began, the JAMB Registrar admitted that he thought about resigning, but he changed his mind and chose to try to make things right on the ground as much as possible.
“I immediately wanted to quit when this occurred. Oloyede continued, “But people told me that the students will never forgive you—it would seem like you abandoned them in their time of need.”
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He argued that ignorance and false information were the main causes of many public reactions and urged the media and interested parties to refrain from politicizing educational matters.
This stance reportedly comes after previous requests from certain stakeholders, such as the House of Representatives’ South-East Caucus, in the wake of the scandals that surrounded this year’s UTME.
Intelligence is not measured by the UTME.
Professor Oloyede argued throughout the conversation that the UTME should not be utilized to evaluate any candidate because it is only a placement test and not an intellectual test.
“UTME ranks applicants for tertiary institution spots that are open. Oloyede stated that it is not the last indicator of a student’s IQ or prospects.
Opesusi Timilehin, a 19-year-old candidate, killed himself due to his poor UTME scores, and the JAMB Registrar also lamented his passing. During the meeting, he recognized her by calling for a minute of silence.
We were all broken by that incident, he said. Regretfully, some parents called me claiming their children had passed away in order to subsequently request money.
