Love or hate Prof. Ish’aq Olanrewaju Oloyede, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, and incumbent Registrar/Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), there is something you cannot deny him of: credit for his sterling performance in his present calling. But, unknown to many, Oloyede had been doing well long before his present assignment. And we cannot get a good grasp of the present achievements of this man that many have come to regard as a rare Nigerian public servant if we do not travel down the memory lane to see where he was coming from and how indeed he fared there.

It would be uncharitable to dismiss his achievements at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, where he was vice-chancellor from 2007 to 2012) as one of average performance. Most of what have come to popularise his activities at JAMB were started from the University of Ilorin. He initiated and indeed pioneered the Computer-Based Test (CBT), for example, for post-JAMB screening of candidates for admission into the university, as well as for internal large class examinations there. Then, he was heavily criticised for introducing something that many people thought were just not possible or sustainable. Today, not only is CBT adopted for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), many tertiary institutions as well as public and private establishments have embraced the idea in the conduct of examinations and for employment purposes.

We can only imagine what life would have been like if UTME candidates were still to be writing the examinations the old way.

Oloyede also began weekly publication of the report of the university’s financial transactions in the university’s bulletin. This is a rarity in our kind of country where even websites of some major public institutions are left without being updated for years. Oloyede has maintained this tradition at JAMB. The board’s weekly record of income and expenditure are in the domain for anyone who might be interested in having a look at them. This is accountability and transparency at work.

In a sense, his experience at the University of Ilorin somewhat prepared him for the role he was later to play at JAMB. For instance, on CBT, it was only a question of expanding the scope nationwide instead of its being localised to the university campus in Ilorin.

Oloyede, as vice-chancellor turned the fortunes of the university around from an unranked institution to one of repute in Africa and the university of first choice in the country. Kunle Akogun, the director, corporate affairs of the university has this to say in this regard: “Professor Oloyede was the first alumnus of the University of Ilorin to become its vice -chancellor…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”, Akogun said.

He added that Oloyede ” 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.”

So, for Oloyede, charity truly begins at home. Most of what he is doing at JAMB today he already started at his alma mater. JAMB only provided the larger platform to announce his capabilities, thus elevating him to global relevance from the local champion that he might have remained perpetually if he had not got the opportunity to serve as chief executive of the board.

The Professor of Islamic Studies came into JAMB in August 2016, at a time when everybody knew that all was not well with the board. Its primary assignment of organising the annual UTME was characterised by chaos. Virtually everyone knew that the examination was holding whenever it was slated to hold because of the commotion that attended it. Candidates would be running helter-skelter in search of their centres. When they eventually found them, they had many other hurdles to cross, due mainly to the preponderance of human interface in the examinations.

But Oloyede came and changed the narrative. Unlike some others who would request for eternity to make impact, Oloyede’s transformation began with the very first UTME he conducted. It was a marked improvement compared with previous experiences. By the time he conducted the second exercise, most of what seemed to be intractable problems had become history and stakeholders began to heave a sigh of relief that, at last, Nigeria has found someone who truly understands the system and is ready to turn things around. Every other UTME has been a marked improvement compared with the other because of the unrelenting efforts of Oloyede, leveraging largely on technology.

He introduced the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) that automates the admission process; E-Ticketing for complaints, Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) for prompt delivery of admission requirements as well as the use of biometric authentication to confirm validity of registration. His other innovations include expansion of the capacities of CBT centres for standardisation purposes as well as ensuring that they all have CCTV for monitoring of the examination online, real time. He also introduced E-slip printing; the introduction of management dashboard to monitor registration and admission exercise real time, and instituted the Equal Opportunity Group for the conduct of UTME to make life easier for blind candidates, etc.

Another major area where Oloyede has stunned many is in the management of resources. Despite reducing examination fees, he has succeeded in turning in billions annually to the Federal Government’s coffers since he took over. This is unprecedented in the history of JAMB. As a matter of fact, when he remitted the first billions barely a year after assuming office, the then Minister of Finance wondered whether there was no mix-up somewhere. He has continued along that line. As at last year, the board, under Oloyede, had remitted about N55 billion.

Perhaps it is for this reason of being easy for some of us to forget where we are coming from that many Nigerians were piqued that the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee had to order JAMB to remit N3.6 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), following a complaint by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) that the board had failed to respond to letters demanding the remittance of operating surplus. There had been argument back and forth about what percentage the board should pay to the (FRC), but the committee, in the end, found JAMB culpable and ordered it to pay N3,602,605,277 as demanded by the commission. The committee may be doing its job, but what actually piqued many of us is whether the House could have ordered the board to refund a dime in the years of the locusts that the board was in 38 years of its existence before Oloyede took over. I am here talking about the time when JAMB laid no eggs and hatched none.

Where were both the FRC and the House committee? But that is life for you. To whom nothing is given, much is expected!

Oloyede also in 2018 instituted an annual award tagged the National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award (NATAP-M) Award for deserving institutions to encourage compliance with the admission guidelines and healthy competition. Huge prizes had been won by some of the institutions, with the emphasis however on the first position which carries the chunk of the prize. This, according to Oloyede, is to ensure that the award has an impact on any institution that comes first.

He has also improved on welfare packages for members of the staff of JAMB because he realised that without boosting their morale, he cannot go far.

In all, Oloyede has been able to transform JAMB beyond expectations, beginning, as I said earlier, with his core mandate of organising the UTME. Just like Nigerians no longer need ‘bench for siddon’ in our banking halls; UTME candidates no longer need scratch cards. They no longer need pencil as the exam is now computer-based. Today, we hear of concepts like the CBT, IBASS, E-Ticketing, biometrics, etc.

Even his critics would by now have admitted that Oloyede’s appointment as registrar/chief executive of JAMB was ”divine appointment” as he himself said back then in August 2016. Only the mischievous would see an elephant and say it seems he just saw something. When we see an elephant, we should say so. (Ajanaku koja mo ri nkan firi; ti a ba ri erin, ka so). Oloyede is an elephant of sort in his chosen career. Considering the good job he has been doing in JAMB, it is evident, as this newspaper noted in its editorial on him on Friday, that President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed him in that capacity obviously took his eyes to the market when shopping for someone to head the board.

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

As a matter of fact, I have always wondered how an expert in Islamic Studies could be as conversant with technology as Oloyede has been. I doubt if today he would not floor some people who did computer in the university because virtually everything he does has a tinge of the computer technology.

In all, what Oloyede’s appointment tells us is that there are many qualified and competent Nigerians out there. All that is required is for the country’s leaders to take their eyes along when shopping for heads for public institutions. It amazes me when top government functionaries parrot, albeit with glee, the jaded expression that government cannot run business profitably. That being the case, why do we waste so much money to keep people who we already know cannot deliver simply because they are doing it for government? Why not outsource most government functions?

Even as the nation ponders this question, I join millions of Nigerians in wishing this distinguished Nigerian a happy 70th birthday and pray that God would continue to guard and guide him in the service of the fatherland.