*Prof Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede.
A QuotesGram principle for prosecuting critical assignments is: “Start Fresh… Stay Strong… Finish Well!” This principle is quite relevant for holding public office in Nigeria which is a trying endeavour and exposes the office holder to commendation and condemnation in varying degrees. It is gratifying that public opinion on Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede’s tenure as the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), from August 2016 to July 2026 has been overwhelmingly complimentary.
This can be seen from the profuse media adulation which he attracted in 2024 when he attained the distinguished age of seventy and consequently retired from the services of the University of Ilorin. The broad-based appreciation of Professor Oloyede was shown, in particular, in the 27 October, 2024 article titled “Oloyede in editorials” in this column. The end-of-tenure tributes, especially those published from 11 May, 2026 (when the impending end of his tenure on 31 July, 2026 was announced by the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said Ahmad) to August 2026 (after the tenure had ended) may therefore be regarded as the final scorecard of a momentous ten-year tenure.
The 14 September, 2021 article in The Guardian – Nigeria written by the veteran journalist Ray Ekpu which is titled “Ishaq Oloyede: Snake charmer” provides a fascinating perspective to the present run-through of the media commendations. In it, Ray Ekpu remarked: “There are two tough positions in Nigeria’s public service whose incumbents deserve tons of public sympathy. The chairmanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is one of them. The other is the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Politicians want to ‘win’ elections at all costs so they use money and violence to get things to go their own way. Some parents want their children to get into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions by hook or crook so they and their children do anything fair and foul to secure admission.”
The iconic journalist Ray Ekpu further declared: “There are two things to remark about Oloyede. He is a Muslim. He is a Professor. Some Muslims in public office have failed Nigeria by stealing our money and mismanaging our diversity. Some Professors have failed Nigeria by rigging elections or harassing female students for sex or male students for money. So Oloyede’s success has nothing to do with his religion or his professorial standing. He is just a good man …. It is the integrity in him, that rare quality that made him to charm the snakes that were swallowing JAMB’s money before he took office. The snakes vomited the money and where they could not they were put in zoos where they cannot escape. That way he made JAMB’s money inaccessible to greedy snakes.”
Moreover, in a 21 July, 2026 article titled “Oloyede’s sprezzatura” in The Sun – Nigeria, the iconic journalist Ray Ekpu noted: “Please forgive me for using the strange, unpronounceable Italian word in the above headline. It is because it fits perfectly into my thoughts on a man called Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the outgoing Registrar of JAMB. Sprezzatura means the art of making the difficult look easy. As Oloyede clears his desk in readiness to hand over the baton to Professor Segun Aina, I consider it a duty to say ‘thank you’ to Oloyede for a gold standard performance at that difficult office he held for 10 years.”
Anchoring the opening of his own tribute to the Ray Ekpu commendation, the famous Saturday Editor of Nigerian Tribune, Lasisi Olagunju, in an article titled “For JAMB’s Ishaq Oloyede,” wrote: “The Yoruba understand the limits of destiny. They say a benefactor may secure you a job, but … cannot do the work for you. Alágẹmọ may give birth to a child; whether that child dances well is entirely the child’s affair. Oloyede once told a gathering of editors that a former president recommended him to President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment. The man who mentioned his name may have opened the door; but the mentioning did not keep him inside. His staying power was the way he handled himself and the job. The strongest testimony to that performance and his emotional intelligence was that he kept his office, his head and his credibility even after the two presidents had fallen out.”
Lasisi Olagunju further opined: “Seventy-one-year-old Professor Ishaq Oloyede is one of the reasons this democracy has not scored a big, fat zero, as round and vacant as a shark’s eye. As the man takes his leave of JAMB, one hopes that Nigeria, a desert of competent, trustworthy players, will not ask its striker to hang up his boots. The nation still has new fields to till, new frontiers to cross, and new medals to win.”
Another interesting tribute titled “Oloyede: Congratulations I withheld for ten years” in The Cable of 25 May, 2026 was written by Aliu Akoshile (Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of NatureNews). In the article, Aliu Akoshile noted as follows: “In his first official speech titled ‘Let’s do it together: The biggest room in the world,’ Prof. Oloyede said what few appointees dare to say: ‘To tell the truth, those whom I appreciate most are those who sympathise with me, based on what they know of the enormity of the task, and those who pray for me… You do not congratulate a medical doctor about to perform surgery. It is only after a successful operation that such a person can be congratulated.’”
Aliu Akoshile then added: “The assignment has been completed, excellently. The operation is successful. The patient is not just alive – it walks.” He also said: “So, hearty congratulations, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on your successful tenure and superlative performance. Now the boy in Oro and the girl in Oron can believe that their brain, not their bribe, will open the university gate. In this country, that is no small thing.”
In addition, in a 31 July, 2026 article in Vanguard titled “What Ishaq Oloyede’s tenure says about JAMB,” Azu Ishiekwene (Senior Vice Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of Leadership Newspapers) recalled: “As a sworn enemy of centralised systems, which often breed corruption and tyranny, I expressed the view, even in the early days of Oloyede’s tenure, that the system was unreformable. I thought the best we could hope for was a Band-Aid before JAMB finally collapsed under the weight of its corruption. Oloyede’s tenure has proved that occasionally, elephants dance. Over the last 10 years, the board has transformed from a snake-infested wasteland of corruption and mediocrity into one of Nigeria’s most responsive and better-run public institutions.”
Furthermore, my 26 July, 2026 article titled “Oloyede, academia and IPPIS” in the present column noted: “Professor Oloyede has constantly proved former US First Lady Michelle Obama right when she observed regarding her husband’s consistency of character: ‘Being president doesn’t change who you are – it reveals who you are.’ Like President Obama, Professor Oloyede has unalterably remained endearingly himself in the different elevated offices he has held.” The article also remarked: “At a point when despondency was growing and hope was fading that Nigeria could ever again have dedicated, patriotic and altruistic public office holders, Professor Is-haq Oloyede popped up on the national scene, restored hope and provided a visionary and exemplary template for national rebirth and development.”
In addition, in his column on 2 August, 2026 in The Nation, in an article titled “JAMB: Oloyede’s grand exit,” Tunji Adegboyega (the Deputy Chairman of the Editorial Board) wrote: “There is nothing as good as starting a race and ending it well. It is only those that end their race well that are entitled to trophies.” Specifically, he stated: “Oloyede came to JAMB; he saw, he fought, he conquered.”
A series of editorials in different newspapers also poured encomiums on Oloyede. For example, the 27 June, 2026 editorial of the Guardian – Nigeria titled “Lessons in leadership as Oloyede exits JAMB” declared: “Marked by fiscal discipline, transparency, technological reform, and integrity, his tenure, over two terms of five years each, has drawn considerable commendation, understandably, as the nation reaped the benefits of an institutional leader who understood that public office equals public trust.” In its tribute, the 16 July, 2026 editorial of the Punch titled “Oloyede’s transformative legacy at JAMB” also stated: “ONE of Nigeria’s most accomplished and widely respected public administrators, Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, bows out of public service at the end of July, leaving behind an enviable record of reforms and an indelible institutional legacy.”
The editorial board of The Nation also stated on 4 June, 2026 in a piece titled “The man who made a difference”: “Nobody has combined dignity in office with integrity in recent years more than Professor Ishaq Oloyede. He finished his two terms as the helmsman of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) with distinction and éclat.” In addition, the 1 July, 2026 editorial of Blueprint titled “Lessons in service and impact as Professor Oloyede bows out” stated: “As he bows out after a decade of distinguished service, his record will remain a reference point in Nigeria’s public administration and a lasting example of humility, excellence and transformational leadership.”
Furthermore, Leadership newspaper of 1 June, 2026 wrote in an editorial titled “Oloyede: The challenge of sustaining reforms”: “As a newspaper, we align with President Tinubu and all those who commend Oloyede for his committed service to the nation. We also urge other public office holders to take a leaf out of his book on how to serve the country when the opportunity arises.”
The Daily Trust editorial of 14 August, 2026 titled “Keep Oloyede’s JAMB reforms alive” also asserted: “In a society often plagued by skepticism toward public institutions, Oloyede’s tenure stands out as a beacon of reform and credibility. His leadership has demonstrated that when systems are managed with fairness and openness, public trust can be restored and sustained.” Moreover, the 17 August, 2026 editorial of Premium Times titled “EDITORIAL: Ishaq Oloyede’s remarkable leadership at JAMB” noted: “Nigerians rarely offer valediction to public servants when they leave office. But Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who until 31st July was the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has been receiving it in torrents for his transformative stewardship.”
The inspirational guide of the Oloyede leadership template is, like www.runningrachel.com specifies, “It is not how you start … but how you finish. Finish strong!” Together, the range of media tributes to Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede at the end of his tenure at JAMB are therefore a broad-based acknowledgement of a man who has drawn and demonstrated the feasibility of a template for integrity-driven, result-oriented public service.
It is thus the opinion of this column that one of the most fitting tributes to the immediate past Registrar and CEO of JAMB is to establish in his honour an Is-haq Oloyede Centre for Leadership and Public Accountability.