Why Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde (Former JAMB Boss) Was Sacked

         

Revelations have emerged on why President Muhammadu Buhari sacked erstwhile registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Professor ‘Dibu Ojerinde. The former chief executive of JAMB was replaced by Ishaq Oloyede alongside other appointments by the federal government recently. Reports from those close to information informed Daily Post that a fight between Ojerinde and minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu over the 2016 admission exercise into universities and other tertiary institutions led to the termination of the former’s contract. And when the post-Universities Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was canceled by the minister, it was obvious that trouble was looming.

Reports say the ex-JAMB boss did not reply messages sent to him and could not be reached as his phone was said to have been permanently switched off. Reacting to the removal of Ojerinde, a source in the ministry of Education said: “For us, the removal of Ojerinde as Registrar/Chief Executive of JAMB did not come as a surprise. The Minister is very smart because he knew he was dealing with a Professor. What Adamu did was to wait for an opportunity when many CEOs would be involved. “If Ojerinde had been sacked earlier, it would be seen to be politically-motivated. But now that many of them were affected, nobody can read politics into it.”

Speaking also on the brewing discord between the pair, another source hinted that, “After the cancellation of the Post-UTME, it was clearly stated that admissions will be based on the three criteria of Merit, Catchment and Educationally Less Developed States. Since there is no Post-UTME, after sending them the bigger list, what Ojerinde did was, to prepare a list that reflected these three criteria. “Nobody knows what the authorities of Universities told the Minister and based on whatever they may have told him, Adamu advised him to withdraw the list in his own interest. Ojerinde is another stubborn person, especially if he knows he is very right in what he is doing. He declined and refused to withdraw it.

 “After examinations, JAMB usually sent print out to the Universities. JAMB sent a bigger print out. But after agreement that admissions will be based on the three criteria, JAMB sent out a smaller print out which reflected the three criteria. The Universities were not happy that JAMB conducted admissions. If you look at the Act establishing JAMB, it empowers JAMB to conduct admissions. “But the Universities are saying the University Act empowers the Senate to conduct admissions. But the Act establishing JAMB has not been repealed. When you make a law, it doesn’t automatically overpower it. You either repeal it or retain with but say without prejudice the other. So, there is so much confusion.” It was when Ojerinde was sensing danger with his acts that he reportedly tried to withdraw the list sent to universities to reduce the anger of the minister, but it was already too little, too late as the deed had already been done. “But it was very late, Ojerinde should have withdrawn it earlier. This was just the cause of their disagreement.

Despite the protest from Vice Chancellors, the Minister was solidly behind him during the cancellation of the Post-UTME. “If he had withdrawn it, I can tell you that Ojerinde would have escaped the tsunami which shook the education sector on Monday because he did very well in JAMB, especially with the introduction of Computer-Based Test,” another anonymous source explained.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday, July 18, went tough on the Nigerian government over the cancellation of the post-UTME. Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the ASUU president, Biodun Ogunyemi said the union regrets government’s cancellation of the Post-UTME. Ogunyemi said: “The Academic Staff Union of Universities has noted with deep regret the recent pronouncement by the federal government of Nigeria forbidding Nigerian universities from conducting Post- UTME test.”