The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has dismissed calls for his resignation following the difficulties which have surrounding the administration of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Speaking on Wednesday during a meeting with stakeholders, including chief external examiners and civil society organizations in Abuja, Oloyede said resigning would have been tantamount to abandoning the affected students in their time of need.
He also denied calls for his resignation, arguing that individuals making the requests had no moral footing or legitimacy to make such calls or challenge his leadership qualities.
According to him, “truck pushers cannot direct pilots.”
While the JAMB Registrar confessed that he considered resignation when the entire fiasco started, he then reconsidered the move and decided to correct the situation on ground as much as feasible.
“When this happened, my first reaction was to resign. But people cautioned me that the students will never forgive you—it would appear as though you abandoned them in their moment of need,” Oloyede added.
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He submitted that many public reactions were motivated by ignorance and misinformation, calling on stakeholders and the media to avoid politicizing educational problems.
It was said this attitude follows prior appeals from several stakeholders, particularly the South-East Caucus of the House of Representatives, following scandals that accompanied this year’s UTME.
UTME Not A Measure Of Intelligence
Professor Oloyede submitted during the discussion that UTME is only a placement test, not a measure of intelligence and should therefore not be used to judge any candidate.
“UTME ranks candidates for available spaces in tertiary institutions. It is not the final assessment of a student’s IQ or future,” Oloyede said.
The JAMB Registrar also grieved the loss of a 19-year-old candidate, Opesusi Timilehin, who committed himself over low UTME scores. He called for a minute of silence in her respect at the meeting.
“That tragedy broke all of us,” he said. Regrettably, there were also untrue claims; some parents called me claiming their kids had passed away, then demanded money.
