Campus News

2025 UTME: UNILORIN VC, alumni body salute Oloyede’s courageous, sincere leadership

2025 UTME: UNILORIN VC, alumni body salute Oloyede’s courageous, sincere leadership

By Abubakar Imam, Mustafa Abubakar and Latifat Raji

The University of Ilorin and its Alumni Association have commended the exemplary leadership style of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Emeritus Prof. Is’haq Oloyede, in the way he has been handling the controversy surrounding the glitch encountered in the just concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). 

Reacting to the televised  apology tendered to the affected candidates by the JAMB Registrar last  Wednesday (May 14, 2025), the UNILORIN Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, said, “Only a conscientious, sincere, and courageous leader with genuine compassion for the welfare of the people he serves could openly take responsibility for an incident surrounding the service delivery of an organisation he heads but which glitch was not due to his personal negligence.”

In a statement issued on his behalf by the University’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, last Thursday (May 15, 2025), Prof. Egbewole said that the disposition of the JAMB Registrar has clearly shown him as a leader who is conscious of the fact that the buck stops on his desk, pointing out that “given the same circumstance, many Nigerian leaders would have regaled the public with untenable excuses to wash their hands clean of what had happened.”

            The Vice Chancellor said that he was moved beyond words with the remarkable manner Prof. Emeritus Oloyede addressed the matter, saying that only a true leader would do what the JAMB Registrar did and at the time he acted.

            According to Prof. Egbewole, “It is not every leader that owns up to mistakes and even takes responsibility for the infraction of others.”

            Prof. Egbewole, however, said that he was not surprised with the candour displayed by the Emeritus Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence, noting that as a total product of the University of Ilorin, Oloyede had been imbued with the right leadership values right from his undergraduate days and through his remarkable tenure as a staff member and culminating in his services to the University as its 8th Vice Chancellor from 2007 to 2012.

            Commending the forthrightness of the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Egbewole said that the University of Ilorin is very proud of this distinguished alumnus who has always been one of his most valued ambassadors living up to the ideals of the University as a bastion of excellence, probity, and high impact service delivery.

            The Vice Chancellor encouraged other Nigerians, especially those in one leadership position or the other, to emulate the forthrightness of Prof. Emeritus Oloyede for Nigeria to regain her glorious past.

            Prof. Egbewole wished the JAMB’s helmsman a more productive and more successful tenure.

Also in its reaction, the University of Ilorin Alumni Association has said that Emeritus Prof. Oloyede demonstrated true leadership and responsibility by admitting the errors made by others.

In a statement signed by its National President, Prof. AbdulRasak Kilani, the Association said, “This is a commendable feat needed in the public service.”

            The Alumni body said, “Prof. Oloyede mobilised the right resources to identify the causes of the glitches in the JAMB system”, pointing out that “his actions have shown honesty and integrity and have affirmed Oloyede as a man of honour.”

Noting that “the glitches could have been swept under the carpet” the Association said, however, that “Prof. Oloyede took the path of honour by accepting responsibility.”

Amuda-Yusuf seeks collaboration in construction industry for building cost reduction

By Festus Ogunyinka

The Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Ilorin, Prof. Ganiyu Amuda-Yusuf, has stressed the need for effective collaboration among professionals in the nation’s construction industry to ensure a better and all-inclusive costs management.

Prof. Amuda-Yusuf made this call last Thursday (May 15, 2025) while delivering the 281st Inaugural Lecture of the University, titled “Value Proposition for Enhancing Cost Management of Subservient and Neglected Elements in Building” at the University Auditorium.

The Dean, who is a two-terms Head of  the Department of Quantity Surveying, said that with increasing collaborations among professionals in the construction industry the cost of building would be relatively brought down.

He also called for a purposeful integration of knowledge among construction professionals, saying that this would enhance a more robust project planning and delivery.

            Prof. Amuda-Yusuf, whose Inaugural Lecture was the first to be delivered from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, also explained that ‘buildings must be designed with essential features that deliver the expected comfort level to occupants and meet environmental standards.

            These features, according to the Inaugural Lecturer, include a balance of space temperature, lighting, humidity levels, efficient communication capabilities, convenient power supply, high quality sanitation and reliable system installations to protect both occupants and property.

He also canvassed a situation where the construction industry would embrace environmental consciousness through the adoption of green materials, optimising energy and water usage as well as effective waste management.

Prof. Amuda-Yusuf, who is also serving as the Dean of the Faculty for the second time, equally called for the establishment of a robust regulatory framework for the construction industry. This, he said, would bring development in the industry under more effective control and management.

He equally called for a greater investment in training and capacity building for the nation’s construction industry to become more dependable and reliable.

According to the don, “there is lack of evidence indicating that Quantity Surveyors (QS) are effectively demonstrating leadership in the cost management of building services.”He, therefore, charged Quantity Surveyors to swiftly take the lead for their impacts to be felt.

Prof. Amuda-Yusuf, who  called for the adoption of standardised measurement methods, encouraged collaboration between Quantity Surveyors and Service Engineers from the project inception to enable them acquire a deeper knowledge and comprehensive understanding of the technology involved.

He also made a case for the integration of Building Information Modeling (BMS) in measurement standards. He said, “Project management practitioners should move beyond viewing  BIM merely as a software tool and embrace it as a collaboration and information management framework.”

Prof. Amuda-Yusuf, who is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Kwara State chapter, also called for the adoption of standard-based pricing mechanisms and integration of value engineering into project planning.

While calling for the promotion of education and training in sustainable construction practices, Prof. Amuda-Yusuf suggested that policy makers within the industry should develop and enforce national standards in project execution.

Citing his experience as an example, Prof. Amuda-Yusuf enjoined institutions of higher learning in the country to make use of qualified and experienced building professionals in their services in carrying out construction works on their campuses as he said that whatever they make from the projects would be ploughed back to such institutions in terms of knowledge and facilities.

The lecture, which was presided over by the  Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, was attended by colleagues, friends, relations and students of Prof. Amuda-Yusuf from far and near.