Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is a Professor of Islamics and a Fellow of the Islamic Academy of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Fellow, Academy of Entrepreneurship; Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Management; Fellow, Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Fellow, Association of Islamic Religious Studies and a Fellow, Nigerian Academic of Letters. He won the Arab League Prize for Best Final Year Certificate Student in Islamic Studies from the University of Ibadan in 1977.
He won Federal Government Undergraduate Merit Award (University of Ilorin) in 1981 and many other laurels both home and abroad. He has a first class degree in Arabic Language and Literature, a Masters degree in Islamic Studies and a Ph.D in Islamic jurisprudence. He also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education from University of Ilorin.
He has served on the board of many reputable university and academic organisations. He was the Chairman, Committee of Directors of Academic Planning in Nigerian Universities, 2002 to 2004; he was the President, Association of African Universities (AAU), 2004 to 2011 when he voluntarily resigned to pave way for the resumption of a Nigerian, Professor Jegede as the Secretary-General of the Association. He served on the Board of Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), 2010 to 2012 and International Association of Universities (IAU), 2008 to 2012. He is an International Advisory Board member of International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA). He was also a Board member of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).
He was appointed Co-Secretary of the National Political Reform Conference by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 and also a member of the 2014 National Political Conference. Also in 2006, he was appointed a Consultant for the reorganisation of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Nigeria.
He was the initiator and honorary secretary General of All West African Universities (AWAU). He was the Executive Secretary and National Coordinator of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) from 2007 to 2018 and currently the Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.
Professor Oloyede served as the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, from October, 2007 to October 15, 2012 and Chairman Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigeria Universities as well as the Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) from 2011 to 2012.
Prof. Oloyede during his five-year administration as Vice-Chancellor turned around the fortunes of the University of Ilorin and its ratings among global Universities.
Prof. Oloyede assumed duty as the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on the 9th of August, 2016 and in the space of three years, revamped the entire operation of the Board. The Board which had remitted to the Federal Government coffers a cumulative sum of less than N50m between 1978 and 2016, remitted N7.8b in 2017 and has between 2016 to date paid operating surplus of N20.7b to the Federal Government, in addition to the massive physical and human development being undertaken from the Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) of the Board, a fact that made the Federal Government reduce the application fee into tertiary institution by 30%.
Professor Oloyede who is a globally acknowledged scholar of Islam, who was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1995, has published close to one hundred publications in reputable outlets and attended numerous academic fora within and outside Nigeria.
Professor Oloyede is a recipient of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) which he received in 2022, he was formerly honoured with the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2014. He received the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award in 2019 and the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (Education Category) in 2022. The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Association of Christian Journalists honoured him with the Integrity Public Servant Personality of the Year 2021 award (NACJ). In February 2023, he was presented with an Icon of Education Transformation and Peace award and was also made a life member of the NANS Hall of Fame. Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede is married with four adult-children and ten grandchildren.
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