By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The University of Ilorin has commended the exemplary leadership style of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Emeritus Prof. Is’haq Oloyede, in the way he has been handling the controversy surrounding the glitch encountered in the just concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Reacting to the televised public apology tendered to the affected candidates by the JAMB Registrar on Wednesday, the UNILORIN Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, said: “Only a conscientious, sincere, and courageous leader with genuine compassion for the welfare of the people he serves could openly take responsibility for an incident surrounding the service delivery of an organisation he heads but which glitch was not due to his personal negligence.”

In a statement issued on his behalf by the University’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, on Thursday, Prof. Egbewole said the disposition of the JAMB Registrar has clearly shown him as a leader who is conscious of the fact that the buck stops on his desk, pointing out that “given the same circumstance, many Nigerian leaders would have regaled the public with untenable excuses to wash their hands clean of what had happened.

The Vice Chancellor said that he was moved beyond words with the remarkable manner Emeritus Prof. Oloyede addressed the matter, saying that only a true leader would do what the JAMB Registrar did and at the time he acted.

According to Prof. Egbewole: “It is not every leader that owns up to mistakes and even takes responsibility for the infraction of others.”

Prof. Egbewole, however, said that he was not surprised with the candour displayed by the Emeritus Professor, noting that as a total product of the University of Ilorin, Oloyede had been imbued with the right leadership values right from his undergraduate days and through his remarkable tenure as a staff member and culminating in his services to the University as its 8th Vice Chancellor from 2007 to 2012.

Commending the forthrightness of the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Egbewole said that the University of Ilorin is very proud of this distinguished alumnus who has always been one of his most valued ambassadors living up to the ideals of the University as a bastion of excellence, probity, and high impact service delivery.

The Vice Chancellor encouraged other Nigerians, especially those in one leadership position or the other, to emulate the forthrightness of Emeritus Prof. Oloyede for Nigeria to regain her glorious past.

Prof. Egbewole wished the JAMB’s helmsman more productive and more successful tenure.