Igbo, South Minorities, Women Again Lose Out As JAMB’s 7th Registrar Takes Over (SEE FULL LIST OF ALL HEADS OF JAMB SO FAR)
By
Felix Oboagwina
Professor Is-haq Oloyede on Friday 31st July 2026 handed over leadership of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), ending his 10-year tenure and marking the beginning of Professor Segun Aina, as Registrar, the headship of the foremost educational agency once more swung away from the South-East and the South-South.
JAMB has never had a non-Northerner or non-Yoruba as Registrar since its creation in 1978.
No Igbo, South-South Minorities (or woman for that matter) has ever headed Nigeria’s sole university, polytechnic, monotechnic and colleges of education admissions processing institution.
Named to the position by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 21, Aina hails from Osun State, and is a Professor of Computer Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
At 39, he is reputed by The Presidency to be the youngest JAMB Registrar in the institution’s 57 years’ history.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Aina, 40, to succeed Oloyede, who led the examination body through a decade of institutional and technological reforms.
Aina, who took over in a ceremony at the JAMB headquarters in Abuja on Friday, had his appointment announced in a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Aina is a Professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with expertise in digital infrastructure, national examination systems and institutional reforms.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Kent.
The new registrar also earned a Master’s degree in Internet Computing and Network Security and a PhD in Digital Signal Processing from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.
He completed the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School.
According to the Presidency, Aina has more than 15 years of experience advising federal and state governments on digital transformation, institutional reforms and systems design.
He has also worked as a consultant to examination bodies, including the National Examinations Council and the National Business and Technical Examinations Board.
His assignments focused particularly on information technology systems and examination integrity.
The Presidency described Aina as one of Nigeria’s youngest professors of Computer Engineering and the youngest registrar in JAMB’s history.
Tinubu expressed confidence that Aina would build on the reforms and achievements recorded under Oloyede and further strengthen JAMB’s operations.
LIST OF JAMB REGISTRARS
- Michael Saidu Angulu (1978–1986)
- Brigadier-General Muhammad Mustapha (1986–1996)
- Momodu A.B. Tukur (1996–2001)
- Professor Bello Salim (2001–2007)
- Professor Dibu Ojerinde (2007–2016)
- Professor Is-haq Oloyede (2016–2026)
- Professor Segun Aina (2026–Present).
Aina begins a five-year tenure that will lapse in 2031.
FELIX OBOAGWINA IS A JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR AND WRITES FROM LAGOS
