BEN AHANONU
The absence of an Igbo Registrar at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) since its establishment in 1978 is primarily the result of a highly politicised federal appointment process. It also stems from geopolitical calculations that frequently dictate the distribution of leadership across Nigeria’s ministries, departments, and agencies.
Under JAMB guidelines, the position of Registrar is an executive appointment made directly by the President of Nigeria, usually based on the recommendation of the Minister of Education. The history of the board’s leadership reveals a clear rotation between Northern and Southwestern academic administrators. The chronological list of substantive JAMB Registrars since inception includes:
Mr. Michael Saidu Angulu (1978–1986) – North Central
Brigadier-General Muhammad Mustapha (1986–1996) – North
Dr. Momodu A. B. Tukur (1996–2001) – North East
Professor Bello Salim (2001–2007) – North West
Professor Dibu Ojerinde (2007–2016) – South West
Professor Is-haq Oloyede (2016–2026) – South West
Dr. Segun Aina (Appointed May 2026) – South West
While other educational agencies like the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) have seen Igbo leadership—such as Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe—JAMB’s top seat has remained exclusive to specific regions. This pattern is frequently cited by socio-cultural groups like Ohanaeze Ndigbo as a structural manifestation of geopolitical marginalisation in federal institutions.
For forty-eight years, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has held the keys to the future of every aspiring Nigerian university student. Yet, since its pioneering operations in 1978, a striking statistical anomaly has persisted within its corporate headquarters in Bwari, Abuja: no scholar or administrator of Igbo extraction has ever been appointed substantive Registrar.
This persistent exclusion has transformed from a quiet observation in academic circles into an urgent debate on national equity. The conversation has been amplified by socio-political friction following recent technical glitches that disproportionately affected candidates in the South-East region.
The position of JAMB Registrar is not won through civil service exams or internal institutional promotion. It is a political prize, handed down via executive fiat by the President. A historical review of the board’s registry shows a selective regional pipeline.
This regional ping-pong leaves the South-East completely locked out of the gatehouse of Nigeria’s tertiary selection framework. While successive governments claim appointments are based strictly on merit and federal character, critics argue that “federal character” in Nigeria has often devolved into a tool for regional balancing that somehow skips the Igbo intelligentsia when it comes to the country’s most powerful educational parastatal.
The absence of Igbo leadership at JAMB is particularly ironic given the region’s historic hyper-investment in formal education. Year after year, states in the South-East register some of the highest numbers of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) applicants in the federation.
Political analysts argue that leaving the absolute control of a gateway institution in the hands of specific regions fuels suspicion. For decades, the South-East has vocalised complaints against the “Educationally Less Developed States” (ELDS) policy—a quota system implemented by JAMB that lowers university cut-off marks for certain regions while raising them significantly for candidates from the South-East and South-West.
Without an indigenous representative at the absolute apex of the board, the enforcement of these quotas is often viewed through a lens of systemic containment rather than national integration. Activists argue that the absence of an Igbo head leaves the region without a voice to challenge admission policies that penalise high-performing students based purely on their states of origin.
Defenders of the status quo point out that the Igbo region has not been entirely excluded from the broader educational apparatus. Scholars from the region have routinely headed various federal universities as Vice-Chancellors and served as Executive Secretaries of other vital educational parastatals. Furthermore, the internal management of JAMB contains a diverse array of directors and zonal coordinators from across the South-East.
However, as the recent appointment of Dr. Segun Aina demonstrates, the ultimate executive authority remains tightly guarded within established political corridors.
Segun Aina, a professor of computer engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, would succeed Ishaq Oloyede, whose two-term elapses on July 31, 2026.
Thirty-nine-year-old Aina, who turns 40 in July, would become JAMB’s youngest ever registrar.
In a country where institutional trust is fragile and highly tribalised, representation matters. Until a Nigerian President deliberately breaks this cycle and appoints an eligible scholar from the South-East to run JAMB, the institution will continue to struggle against the narrative that it is a regional gatekeeper rather than a truly national arbiter.
Prince Ben AHANONU
SPOKESPERSON,
ALAIGBO POLITICAL WATCHDOG