Special Report

By Chukwudi George Ozalla

When Professor Segun Aina first came to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, he was a young graduate beginning his professional career. At the time, there was little indication that his association with the institution would eventually lead him back to JAMB as its Registrar and Chief Executive Officer.

Aina has now taken charge of the Board, and one of his first major interventions has focused on pending complaints from candidates and other users of JAMB services. Within five days, more than 5,000 complaints were resolved after the new Registrar visited the Service Compact with All Nigerians (SERVICOM) Unit to examine cases brought before the Board.

JAMB’s Acting Director of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said the complaints involved profile code difficulties, biometric verification, issues with the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), payment and e PIN problems, examination venues, technical difficulties, document uploads and requests involving changes to candidates’ personal information.

Rather than relying only on reports from officials, Aina went to the complaints unit, examined the cases and directed the relevant officers to attend to genuine complaints. The intervention provided an early indication of the attention he intends to give to service delivery at a Board whose activities affect millions of Nigerians seeking admission into tertiary institutions.

Aina’s relationship with JAMB did not begin with his appointment as Registrar. He had previously served in the institution as an NYSC member before leaving to pursue a career in computer engineering, digital technology, academia, research and examination systems.

He is a Professor of Computer Engineering with qualifications in Computer Systems Engineering, Internet Computing and Network Security, and Digital Signal Processing. He also attended the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School. His professional experience has included university teaching and research, digital technology, examination systems and public sector innovation.

His background is relevant to a Board that has undergone major technological changes in recent years. Computer based testing, digital registration, admissions processing, examination security and other technology driven systems now form an important part of JAMB’s operations. Aina is taking over an institution with established systems, a large workforce and extensive experience in the administration of examinations and admissions.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Aina as JAMB Registrar in May 2026, succeeding Professor Is-haq Oloyede. His appointment also made him the youngest person to occupy the position.

The task before him is to assess the systems he inherited, identify areas that require improvement and ensure that the technology deployed by the Board produces the efficiency expected from it. His five year development agenda includes a unified customer service platform, a review of JAMB’s technology infrastructure, a unified mobile application and a paperless enterprise wide digital administration system.

Service delivery, governance, technology, integrity and partnerships form the main areas of the programme. The value of those plans, however, will be determined by how they affect the day to day operations of the Board.

The complaints resolved within five days offer useful information for that assessment. By examining the nature of the cases, the stages at which they occurred and the reasons they remained unresolved, JAMB can identify weaknesses in its procedures and determine where changes are required.

Resolving complaints after they occur is necessary, but reducing the number of complaints generated by a particular process would provide a more lasting solution. If the same problems continue to appear, the Board would need to examine the procedures behind them rather than simply deal with each case separately.

This will be particularly important as more of JAMB’s operations depend on digital systems. Technology can make registration, examination and admission processes faster and more efficient, but failures in those systems can also create difficulties for users. The responsibility of the administration will therefore include ensuring that technological improvements are matched by effective human support.

Aina will also have to maintain the balance between accessibility and examination integrity. JAMB must make its services available to genuine candidates while preserving the safeguards required to prevent examination malpractice and manipulation of its admission processes. The credibility of the Board depends on both sides of that responsibility.

His professional background gives him experience in technology, while his earlier service at JAMB gives him familiarity with the institution. His years outside the Board have exposed him to other professional environments and allowed him to develop expertise that now has direct relevance to JAMB’s operations.

His progression from NYSC member at JAMB to Professor of Computer Engineering and technology specialist, and eventually to Registrar of the same institution, is an unusual professional journey. He left the organisation, built his career and returned to occupy its highest administrative position.

His early decision to visit the complaints unit has placed service delivery among the issues to watch as his administration settles down. The more important question is whether the information obtained from those cases will lead to changes that prevent similar problems from recurring.

The performance of the new administration will ultimately be judged by the efficiency of JAMB’s processes, the reliability of its technology, the quality of its interaction with candidates and the credibility of its examinations and admission procedures. Those are responsibilities that extend beyond clearing a backlog of complaints.

Aina now leads the institution where he once served as a young corps member. His experience inside JAMB, combined with the professional career he built outside it, gives him a perspective that few previous occupants of the office have had. The challenge before him is to use that experience to improve an institution whose decisions have a direct bearing on the educational ambitions of millions of young Nigerians.

His journey from serving at JAMB to heading it is unusual. What will give the journey lasting significance, however, will be the changes he makes to the institution and the quality of service JAMB provides under his leadership.