This Is Not About Ethnicity, JAMB Registrar Refutes Bias Allegations

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has rejected calls for his resignation over challenges during the 2025 UTME, saying critics lack the credibility to question his leadership. “Truck pushers cannot direct pilots,” he said at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.

The South-East Caucus of the House of Representatives had demanded his resignation, but Oloyede stood firm, announcing a mop-up exam for about 5.6% of candidates who missed the UTME. “We are creating a new mop-up. Even those who missed the earlier exam due to absence will be given another opportunity. It’s not extraordinary. In any academic setting, makeup exams are normal.”

He dismissed allegations of ethnic bias: “People say, ‘Where is he from?’ That never mattered to me. I’ve worked with people based on their competence, not their ethnicity. The idea that this is a conspiracy is baseless.”

Oloyede stressed that UTME is a placement test, not a measure of intelligence. “UTME ranks candidates for available spaces in tertiary institutions. It is not the final measure of a student’s intelligence or future.”

He spoke emotionally about the s+icid£ of 19-year-old Opesusi Timilehin over a low score. “That tr+gedy broke all of us. Unfortunately, there were also false reports—some parents called me pretending their children had d+ed, only to ask for money later.”

He admitted he considered stepping down: “When this happened, my first reaction was to resign. But people advised me that the students will never forgive you—it would appear as though you abandoned them in their moment of need.”

While he didn’t comment on when the rescheduled results would be released, JAMB has assured they will be out soon. Oloyede ended with a call for unity: “Let us not descend to the level of opportunists exploiting challenges for personal or political gain. We will fix what went wrong and continue to build an examination system Nigeria can be proud of.”