Former Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has described parents’ involvement in examination malpractice as the most painful experience of his 10-year tenure, saying many adults are leading their own children into fraud.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television’s THISDAY Live, Oloyede reflected on his time at the helm of the examination body, admitting that the growing role of parents in organising cheating during exams left him deeply disturbed.
The former JAMB boss, who officially handed over to his successor, Prof. Segun Aina, on Friday, said the candidates themselves were often not the real problem. Instead, he blamed parents for encouraging dishonest behaviour and introducing their children to criminal acts at an early stage of life.
“The most painful period of my experience in JAMB has to do with the level of involvement of parents in the organisation of examination malpractice,” Oloyede said. “They are introducing their wards and children to the world of crime. I think most of the candidates are not problematic. They are not the problem. The problem is the parents.”
He said each time he encountered cases involving parents, he became emotional, questioning why anyone would knowingly damage the future of their own children by teaching them to cheat.
“Every time I was confronted with the reality of what parents are doing, most of the time, I became very emotional about it. How on earth will people hate themselves and their futures to this level? Even if you have a deficiency, you won’t want to pass the deficiency to the next generation,” he added.
Despite those challenges, Oloyede described his decade in office as rewarding, saying the only moments that truly saddened him were those linked to organised examination malpractice involving parents.
Looking ahead, the former registrar expressed confidence in the future of JAMB under the leadership of Prof. Segun Aina, a professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), who was appointed by President Bola Tinubu as the board’s sixth registrar.
Oloyede said Aina’s expertise in technology and computer engineering would strengthen the board’s efforts to improve the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and further deploy technology to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s admission process.
