Oloyede’s NATAP-M Awards, an unsung part of his achievements, is transforming our tertiary institutions
Tertiary institutions in the country, particularly those that have won the National Tertiary Admissions Performance Merit Award (NATAP-M) Awards before, would forever be grateful to the Professor Ishaq Oloyede-led Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for its invaluable contribution to the provision of infrastructure on their campuses. The award was instituted by the board in 2018, barely two years after Oloyede assumed office as Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB in August 2016.
NATAP-M Award was initiated to recognise tertiary institutions that are complying with admission guidelines, thereby spurring heathy competition among the institutions.
Many readers would have expected that this piece would follow the usual pattern of regurgitating whatever new developments that have taken place in JAMB in recent times, concerning its core function, the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). This is much more so as the 2024 Policy Meeting of the board that deliberated on matters pertaining to the exams was just held on July 18, at the Hairat Ade Balogun Auditorium, Body of Benchers, Abuja.
You cannot blame commentators for following this pattern, though. The board has in the last eight years become an institution of one season, one innovation. So, there is always something new to say in that regard. Indeed, given where the board was before Oloyede took over, you cannot but continue to marvel at how he has turned around the fortunes of the place, such that it has become much more functional, rendering billions into the coffers of the Federal Government annually since then. ‘Ko sele ri’ (it never happened in the 38 years of JAMB’s existence before Oloyede came). The board is now 46 years old. Before him, JAMB had always been like the proverbial guinea fowl that laid six eggs and at best hatched only one. An institution that was to be a money spinner for the government became a drain pipe, drawing subvention from government annually to stay afloat.
What has happened is that beyond, and in spite of these returns to government coffers, Oloyede has also gone some steps further that are praiseworthy. He has ventured into gigantic corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects of sort, instructively to develop institutions that the board feeds with students every year. That, indeed, is the nexus between JAMB and the NATAP-M Award.
For instance, we have the Radio Console of the University of Ilorin FM bought with part of the N75 million that the university won in the previous award. There was also the case of Ogun State Polytechnic that built an ultra-modern Computer-Based Test centre with the prize money it won as the most compliant polytechnic in admission processes, among several other winners.
To take JAMB to its present enviable position, Oloyede certainly took some painful decisions. These cut across all stakeholders, including the tertiary institutions, the computer-based test operators, members of the staff of the board itself, the candidates and parents as well as their various other publics.
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When you wean somebody of something, you replace that thing taken away with something better. Life should not be all about stick; where carrot is required, you don’t hesitate to give it. If people or institutions are punished for breaking the law or subverting the process, then those that scrupulously adhere to them deserve encouragement. For me, this is the nexus between the board and the award.
The maiden NATAP-M Awards for 2018, which was held in 2019, featured five categories, namely: the most subscribed institutions by candidates; the most-national institution in terms of admission spread and the institution with the highest number of admission of international students. Other categories were: the most-improved institution in intake of female students and the most compliant institution in keeping within the guidelines, rules and regulations of admissions.
I am interested most in the last; that is the one having to do with compliance with guidelines and rules on admission because this had been a major issue before the advent of Oloyede in JAMB, and we can still see traces of it despite his zero tolerance for abuses related to admissions. Here, what immediately comes into mind is the issue of irregular admissions carried out by some of the institutions in the past. This used to be a sore point until the immediate past Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave a deadline for its eradication. Thousands of students who were involved in these would have had their fate hanging in the air but for the minister’s magnanimity. Any institution or candidate that engages in that now that the deadline is over is on its/his/her own.
This is only one of the anomalies in several institutions. So, if you are punishing non-compliance, I see nothing wrong in rewarding compliance, to incentivise those that have chosen the narrow and straight path.
These interventions, with the winner-institutions, sometimes alongside the board deciding what they actually need, in tune with their prize money, have been helping in closing the infrastructural gaps in the institutions.
Of course it is common knowledge that many of our tertiary institutions, particularly the universities, lack vital infrastructural facilities, including lecture theatres, modern science laboratories, state-of-the-art computer centres, among others. We thus have situations where many students literally perch on windows or hang around in some universities to take lectures because lecture halls have not kept pace with the rate of students intake. We have situations where many computer undergraduates, for instance, do more of theory work when they should be more involved in practicals, because of lack of modern facilities.
Coming from the university system, Oloyede knows where exactly the shoes pinch. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, his alma mater, for five years. Under him, the university became highly-ranked even in Africa, and the most sought-after university in Nigeria. Oloyede also served as Chairman of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and Committee of Vice-Chancellors between 2011–2012, among several others, including international appointments. You see what I mean?
However, one question that may agitate the minds of people on the awards is the wide gap between the institution that wins the first position and the others. For instance, with this year’s prize money increased from N710 million to N750 million, the university that came first would get a whopping N500 million. The others, including polytechnics, colleges of education and others, share the balance. The reason is simple: Oloyede explains that this is to enable the winner do something tangible with it. As they say, anything worth doing at all is worth doing well. The idea is to encourage all to strive to be the best, and not play a second fiddle. But then, the overall winner cannot win again until after five years. I think this is fair enough; at least to give others an opportunity to win. It is significant to note that the awards started with N125 million prize money.
It is also heartwarming that in order to ensure transparency and fairness, the board brought in the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), among others, to assess the qualified institutions.
However, my main concern is how JAMB monitors progress on the projects to ensure that the money is judiciously spent so that the projects won’t be victims of the characteristic ‘Nigerian factor’ that would lead to their abandonment or unending contract variations, which would ultimately defeat the purpose of setting up the award. Most of these facilities that JAMB is enabling the institutions to procure through the awards are sorely needed and indeed ought to have been provided as early as yesterday. Subjecting them to further undue delays would be counterproductive.
But, beyond coming from the university system, one other thing that cannot be discountenanced in the giant strides the board has made under Oloyede is the fact that a round peg has been put in a round hole. It is also what happens when professionalism meets with character. Moreover, he has a cooperative team as well as supportive and understanding bosses.
This is where I give credit to the Muhammadu Buhari government that appointed him, for taking its eyes to the market when scouting for a helmsman for the board. Dit to the renewal of his mandate when his first term expired, which was a big relief to stakeholders who wished the country’s educational sector well.
It is significant that despite committing N750 million to the NATAP-M Awards this year, the board was still able to remit over N3.5 billion to the Federal Government coffers, in spite of the economic crisis that the country has been going through. And, despite the fact that it has not increased its fees for application forms! That is to say, where many others are experiencing a casting down, JAMB’s experience has been that of lifting up. This should count for something.
One other thing that has been working for Oloyede is that he is lucky to have had ministers of education that have shown understanding and have been largely supportive. In the same vein, we have to commend the immediate past Buhari administration again in this regard. Like millions of other Nigerians, I have issues with his government’s performance. But his decision to allow Oloyede Iive his dream for JAMB is highly commendable. I want to believe that Buhari would have been inundated with calls to do something about Oloyede when he began the reform in JAMB, because he must have stepped on many powerful toes of people who have no regard for due process but would rather want to offer admission to their relations and cronies right on their complimentary cards.
Today, it is not only Nigeria that is benefitting from Oloyede’s reforms in JAMB, his achievements have attracted recognition even from outside our shores.
We must praise all those who have graciously permitted the JAMB boss an almost unfettered discretion in performing his functions because many people in public office who might have had big dreams when they were appointed had been denied the opportunity of realising them, due to lack of understanding or cooperation from those who appointed them.
All said, it is important to stress that in all of these approvals to operate or spend, that Prof Oloyede has enjoyed, trust is key. It is possible for the government not to let him come this far if it doesn’t trust him or doesn’t wish him well. Everybody, from the former President Buhari to the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, down the line, trust Prof Oloyede. That is why he has been able to come this far. He should not take this for granted.
