On Sunday, 19 July, 2026 the creme-de-la-creme of the Nigerian media gathered at BON Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos at the instance of the outgoing Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, where the in-coming Registrar, Professor Segun Aina, was formally introduced to the media by Oloyede.
Those we refer to as the ‘ancestors’ and ‘legends’ of the Nigerian media as well as its movers and shakers were there. There is hardly anyone of note, especially in the famous Lagos-Ibadan axis of the Nigerian media, that was not there or, where unavoidably absent, was not ably represented. The venue was filled to capacity, such that extra seats had to be brought in to accommodate media topshots who kept coming in.
Alhaji (Comrade) Nojeem Jimoh, media consultant to JAMB, must have been overwhelmed by this particular response to his invitation to the media. He started by wanting to name and thank everyone present, but soon realised it was a mission impossible. Nojeem was the PUNCH editor who head-hunted me when I was a senior reporter with the Ibadan-based Sketch newspaper in 1987.
A fiery students union leader at the University of Lagos who got rusticated for a session for his activism, Nojeem’s fame had traveled amongst those of us comrades in other campuses long before I eventually met him in person. So, when he needed me to join forces with him at the PUNCH newspapers, it was an honour I could not resist.
Nojeem remains my mentor and role model. Therefore, I was happy for him last Sunday afternoon to see how his services, first to his friend, Oloyede, then to JAMB, and, finally, to the nation as a whole, flipped a chapter on a meritorious note. I understand Nojeem still has time left on his contractual obligations at JAMB – up till 2026, even beyond – if the new sheriff so desires; but who changes a winning team?
Oloyede set the ball rolling in his characteristically humorous but frankly-speaking manner by thanking the media for the support he enjoyed from them during his tenure that ends this month. ‘With friends like you, we don’t need an enemy’, he said to an applause! ‘You are friends, but you also hit us! But we always tell you our own side of the story’. He was right!
The relationship Oloyede courted with the media was not patronising; so, the media never treated him with kid gloves. Fortunately for him as well as for us, he ran an open, transparent and responsive administration. Always on top of any JAMB issue you may throw at him at short notice, he was every newsman’s delight. While many other administrators would cover up things, Oloyede would be the first to tell you where the problems are and what he is doing to tackle them. He also always solicits for and makes use of advice.
Speaker after speaker at the lunch enumerated Oloyede’s achievements and the many areas they will miss him. For me, what I will miss most are his candour, wisecracks and humour. Introducing his successor, he described him as a Professor of ICT ‘and not a Professor of Islamic Studies which I am!’ Laughter! He described the support he received from the media as institutional and not personal and pleaded that it remained so. The media, he said, has helped build a house (a new, vastly-improved JAMB) ‘and you cannot build and then destroy’.
Oloyede was asked about his next port of call: Will he go into politics? NEVER! But why is it that people of conscience avoid politics like a plague?
Edmund Burke says ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. But can you also blame the good men and women running away from Nigerian politics? What happened to those of their ilks who offered themselves for elective office – Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Tunji Braithwaite, Femi Falana, among others? Were they not ignominiously ignored by the same ‘suffering masses’ they sought to deliver from their oppressors?
Will Oloyede then settle down after leaving JAMB to put pen to paper and write his memoirs? Again, the answer was NEVER!
His opinion of memoirs is skeptical, thinking they could be riddled with untruths and fabricated tales. He wondered how anyone can remember the minutest details of events that happened 40, 50, 60 years ago like some memoirs purport! Furthermore, he said there are so many things he knows that cannot be put down on paper.
In other words, Oloyede may end up pitching his tent with the expansive tribe of Nigerian leaders who would rather go to their grave with vital information they consider too sensitive to share publicly. ‘I know so many things I cannot say’, he added.
Oloyede will most likely return to the classroom at the University of Ilorin from whence he came. He was, however, not asked whether he would be available for another job appointment by the government.
Few administrators will do what Oloyede did: Handing over his media structure, as it were, to his successor. Nothing sours godfather-godson relationship in this country today better and faster than the fight over ‘structure’. Oloyede admitted he was advised against bringing his successor face-to-face with the media; that his action might be misinterpreted as him trying to put his successor under his wings and gift himself a ‘third term’ of office by subterfuge.
He, however, chose to sound Aina out and when the idea sat pretty with the latter, he went ahead with it.
The succession from Oloyede to Aina is generational, the type recommended by Pastor Wale Adefarasin, Senior Pastor of Guiding Light Assembly, Ikoyi, Lagos, in his book, ‘The succession crisis in Nigeria’. Pastor Wale is the elder brother of his more flamboyant brother, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, of the House on the Rock church. Aina said Oloyede is old enough to be his father and that he would, as such, treasure his advice. He promised to institutionalise Oloyede’s reforms at JAMB as well as prove naysayers wrong: Those who wonder if he is not too young for the job or that he lacks the kind of experience that Oloyede took with him to the JAMB job.
Earlier, Oloyede had made reference to the rich pedigree of his successor whose father, Emeritus Professor Oluremi (Olu) Raphael Aina, OFR, a distinguished academic, was a one-time Registrar of the National Business and Technical Examinations Board and Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Universities Commission (NUC). When his son’s appointment was announced, the senior Aina stepped down from his NUC office and Professor Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe, former vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, was appointed in his place.
The man who will shortly take over the affairs of JAMB said he was humbled by his appointment as well as by the array of media executives and their very encouraging words.
‘I am humbled! This appointment is bigger than me in my current form. I am indeed very lucky (that I have enough time) before taking over’, he said, adding that Oloyede has been gracious to him – although he has also left him with over-sized shoes!
I have witnessed successions with no handing-over notes and where the one taking over was not allowed near the precincts of the office until the very last minute! Every administrator has a lesson to learn from the smooth exchange of batons at JAMB.
There is one useful lesson Aina must learn from Oloyede’s success story and the accolades that have trailed him: Oloyede worked for it. He earned it. It was not served a la carte. The media did not just wow Oloyede for the fun of it. Nojeem aptly put it when he described Oloyede as the PR man’s delight. ‘He made the PR man’s job easier (with his achievements and style of administration)’. What Oloyede remitted to the Federation Account in his first year at JAMB was a multiplication of what his predecessors remitted in 40 years put together! In addition, he took the battle against examination malpractice seriously, thereby making JAMB exams more credible and the admissions system more foolproof.
Oloyede was also fortunate with the in-house PR person he had – Dr. Fabian Benjamin and his team. In my 39 years in the journalism profession, I can count on my fingertips the number of PR persons that have been as thoroughly professional, humble, courteous, and on top of the job as Fabian.
What this tells us is that Aina needs to put together a good team. He must endeavour to tap into Oloyede’s goodwill, contacts, connections, and reach. His own father’s immense clout will also serve him well. As in the media, every profession or institution has its ‘ancestors’ and ‘legends’, so to say. Find them! Respect them! Learn from them!
Prof. Segun Aina will have to put his head down – no airs! – and work really hard if he seeks to build on Oloyede’s achievements and take JAMB to loftier heights. He should never expect free lunch from the media! I welcome and wish him the very best!
Oloyede: Is this story true?
I read online the story you are about to read, and I am hereby asking Professor Oloyede to confirm if it is correct in all material particular; it ran thus: ‘Prof Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is the Secretary of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and (the) current JAMB registrar. He performed a miracle at the National Mosque, Abuja, a few years ago. After every Juma’at prayer, it is a normal tradition for the mosque committee to raise money for the running of the mosque. Prof Oloyede noticed that money raised after every Juma’at prayer never exceeded 13k-14k. This had been going on for a long time.
‘So, one day he decided to personally drop 13k inside the box and the notes were marked without the awareness of the collectors. After every collector had gone round the mosque to collect money from as many dignitaries as usually were present at the mosque, the total money raised still didn’t go above 13k and the particular notes Oloyede personally dropped were missing. No problem!
‘The following Friday, Oloyede came to the mosque with special boxes; the boxes were locked and the keys to them were kept with him.
“As usual, the collectors went round the mosque as dignitaries dropped their money directly into the boxes and after the whole episode, Oloyede opened the boxes and over 400k was realised! The collectors disappeared all of a sudden!’
If gold rusts, what will iron do? Now, tell me, who will deliver Nigeria from the stranglehold of corruption?
Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television. He can be reached on turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533, 0803 251 0193
