Former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has shifted the spotlight in the fight against examination malpractice from students to parents, when he explained that many candidates are drawn into dishonest practices by adults determined to secure university admission for their children at all costs.
Speaking during an interview on ThisDay Live on Sunday, Oloyede said parental involvement in examination fraud is the most disturbing experience of his decade-long stewardship at Nigeria’s admissions body. He warned that the trend poses a deeper moral challenge than the malpractice itself.
Rather than portraying candidates as the principal culprits, the former JAMB registrar maintained that parents have always been the architects of examination fraud by arranging illegal assistance for their children before, during, and after examinations.
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Oloyede said, “The most painful period of my experience in JAMB had to do with the level of involvement of parents in organisation of examination malpractice.
“They are introducing their wards, their children to the world of criminality.”
His remarks came after years of continually sophisticated efforts by examination bodies to curb malpractice through technology, tighter monitoring, and stricter penalties. Despite those measures, incidents of impersonation, result manipulation, and collusion continue to surface during public examinations across the country.
Oloyede established that public attention has often focused on students while overlooking the role played by parents who finance or facilitate fraudulent schemes.
He said, “I have no difficulty. And I think most of the candidates are not problematic. They are not the problem. The problem are the parents.”
According to him, encounters with cases involving parents left him emotionally shaken because they were reflective of a willingness by adults to sacrifice integrity for short-term academic success.
He said, “Every time I was confronted with the reality of what parents were doing… I became very emotional about it because I just felt that how on earth will people hate themselves, hate their future to this level.”
He added that parents who had experienced personal shortcomings should ordinarily seek better values for their children instead of transferring unethical behaviour to another generation.
The comments provide a broader perspective on a problem that has become perpetually difficult for examination authorities to contain. In recent years, JAMB, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), and the National Examinations Council (NECO) have repeatedly caytioned against organised malpractice syndicates involving parents, school proprietors, tutorial operators, and invigilators.
During Oloyede’s tenure, JAMB expanded the use of biometric verification, computer-based testing, and digital surveillance in a bid to reduce impersonation and other forms of examination fraud. The board also prosecuted suspects linked to malpractice networks and consistently cautioned parents against seeking illegal advantages for their children.
Reflecting on controversies that attracted public attention during his administration, Oloyede revisited the widely discussed “snake swallowed money” episode, insisting the incident predated his appointment and was frequently misunderstood.
“There was no snake,” he said, explaining that the board documented the official narration because the claim was difficult to believe.
He recalled that although the story became one of Nigeria’s most talked-about public sector controversies, it did not occur under his leadership but became his responsibility to address after assuming office.
The former registrar also reaffirmed JAMB’s statutory role in university admissions. He maintained that no institution is legally permitted to admit candidates into undergraduate programmes outside the board’s admission process.
“It is not possible. By law, by regulation, there is no institution that can admit undergraduate programme without going through JAMB as far as I know today. If that happens, it is illegal and it is improper,” Oloyede said.
Oloyede completed his tenure as JAMB registrar on July 31, 2026, after serving for 10 years. His administration is widely associated with sweeping reforms that strengthened transparency in the admissions process, increased the deployment of technology, and intensified efforts to dismantle examination malpractice networks.
His remarks, however, suggest that technological reforms alone may not be enough. They point instead to a wider societal challenge, one in which the battle against examination malpractice begins not only in examination halls but also in homes, where values that shape future generations are first formed.
