By Saheed Ibrahim

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A Professor of Comparative Political Economy at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Adelaja Odukoya, has criticised the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), describing it as outdated and an infringement on university autonomy in Nigeria.

Delivering his inaugural lecture, titled “Armageddon”, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences decried what he termed JAMB’s excessive financial burden on prospective students and its overreach into university admissions.

“We are practically allowing JAMB and its registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, to get away with blue murder through their intrusive foray into the university space and their exploitative charges for uploading, downloading, and checking results,” Odukoya stated.

He argued that JAMB was never intended to be a revenue-generating agency, yet it has continued to amass funds that rightfully belong to universities.

“JAMB has become a big behemoth whose utility has since expired, and it is time we staged a requiem mass for it. Universities should be allowed to admit their students without the meddlesomeness of a middleman institution,” he added.

Odukoya further criticised the political class, accusing them of prioritising personal wealth over social justice and equitable governance. He called for leadership committed to collective progress, arguing that Africa’s vast resources should translate into development rather than persistent poverty and underdevelopment.