The Joint
Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) raked in at least N30.726
billion in five years but remitted only about N15 million to the Federal
Government, Daily Trust findings have revealed...
The amount was generated from the
various registration fees for candidates who sat for JAMB’s Unified
Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) from 2011 to 2015.
Over
seven million candidates, who sat for the UMTE within the five-year
period, paid between N4,000 and N4,600 each for registration.
The Federal Government had, about
two weeks ago, ordered a probe of past heads of JAMB, along with other
agencies over “poor remittances.”
Minister of Information KemiAdeosun,
who informed journalists about the probe, said this year, JAMB remitted
N5 billion to the FG with another N3 billion ready for remittance.
Adeosun said JAMB had in the past years remitted an amount not exceeding N3m annually.
This means between 2011 and 2015, JAMB remitted only N15m to the government.
Daily Trust also reports that JAMB
collected a budget average of over N2bn from the federal government each
year within the 5-year period.
Neither JAMB’s current Registrar,
Prof IshaqOloyede, who was appointed on August 1, 2016, norhis
predecessor, Prof ‘DibuOjerinde,has commented on the development.
However, a senior official working
with the board said billions of naira was the generated since the
introduction computer-based tests in 2015, but the monies were not
remitted to the treasury due to gross mismanagement of public funds and
systematic looting by top officials.
‘Highest remittance was N13m’
“The money spent in test
administration reduced drastically with the introduction of computer
tests because there is no need to pay contractors involved in
paper-pencil tests. So, billions were saved from 2015 to date but top
officials embezzled the money. They remitted N13 million to the
government in 2013 and that was the highest amount until 2015 when N5
billion was sent to the treasury,” he said.
The official said he was not aware
whether or not the investigation ordered by the government had started.
“You know how government does its things. It has to follow processes; I
am not sure if the investigation is on,” he said.
How board raked in billions
Checks by Daily Trust revealed that a
total of 1,493,604 million candidates sat for the UTME in 2011, with
each paying N4,600 for registration. The amount totaled N6.870bn.
In 2012, a total of 1,503,931m
candidates registered and sat for the examination. Like the previous
year, they paid N4,600, totaling N6.918bn.
In 2013, a total of 1,644,110m
candidates sat for the examination, but the registration fee was reduced
to N4,000 per candidate. The total amount generated that year was
N6.576bn.
In 2014,a total of 1,015,504m
candidates were asked to pay N4,000 each for the registration. The sum
of N4.062bn was generated that year.
In 2015, a total of 1.4m candidates
registered and sat for the examinations with each of them paying N4,500
as registration fee, which totaled N6.3bn.
The total amount generated for the five years was N30.726bn.
Besides, JAMB introduced a N1,000
e-facility scratch card in 2015, which candidates would purchase to
check and print their results, after the initial five-times free checks.
The card is for both online result slip printing and admission letter
printing.
JAMB’s budgets from 2011 to 2015
Daily Trust checks revealed that JAMB got a total allocation of N12.5bn from 2011 to 2015.
The breakdown showed that in 2011, a
total allocation of N2.228bn was approved for JAMB in the national
budget under the Federal Ministry of Education, out of which the sum of
N2.175bn was for recurrent and N52.901m for capital projects.
In 2012, the National Assembly
approved the sum of N2.370bn for JAMB. Its recurrent expenditure for
that year was N2.361bn, while capital expenditure was N9m.
The agency’s budget for 2013 was
also increased as the board got a total of N2.557bn, out of which
N2.522bn was for recurrent and N35m for capital.
The agency’s budget for 2014 was
similar to that of the previous year, which was N2.557. Out of the
amount, recurrent expenditure got N2.532bn, while N25.06m was allocated
for capital projects.
The situation improved again in 2015
when JAMB got a total allocation of N2.813bn as its budget for that
year, of which the sum of N2.648 was allocated for recurrent and N118m
for capital vote.
Senate, House support probe
Speaking on the development, the
chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund,
Senator JibrinBarau (APC,Kano) threw the weightof the Senatebehind the
probe.
In a phone interview, he said the
Senate would also review the books of the agency to know why previous
heads of JAMB remitted pittance out of what they generated to the
government coffers.
“The whole thing happened when I was
not in charge of the committee; in fact I wasn’t at the National
Assembly at that time. We are talking of the era before the appointment
of Professor Oloyede. The probe is going to be on the previous head of
JAMB.
“It’s quite surprising that the
current management could remit up to N5bn when his predecessor was said
to have remitted N5m. This has no doubt raised a lot of suspicion,” he
said.
Similarly, the chairman of the House
of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep Aminu Suleiman
(APC, Kano) said the past managements of JAMB must answer some questions
regarding the poor remittances.
Suleiman, who chaired the House
Committee on Education during the last Assembly, said the investigation
was in order and that the federal government must be commended for
taking the bold step.
“The probe is more than appropriate,
because what the current registrar of JAMB did, for me, brings out a
lot of issues that need to be discussed,” he added.
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