The probe, it was gathered, would also be extended to the National Examination Council and the West African Examination Council.
The resolution followed a point of order
raised by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi-West), who said JAMB’s revenue had
appreciated significantly under a new administration and asked that the
transactions of former registrars of NECO and WAEC be probed.
Melaye said, “I want to bring to the
attention of the Senate that it has been declared that the Joint
Admission and Matriculation Board made internally generated revenue of
N5bn in 2016 and they improved on that in 2017 by generating N7bn.
Before then, remittance from JAMB to the Federation Account used to be
from N500m to N700m.
“I am bringing it to the attention of
the Senate that since JAMB has showed that they can remit N7bn, then we
can encourage our relevant committees to work on NECO and WAEC that have
wider financial status. WAEC and NECO have more people writing their
exams than JAMB.
“We can make more money as a people and
as a country if there is proper oversight and if the corruption pipes in
those two places are blocked. My intention is to bring this to the
attention of the Senate and the presiding officer can ask the relevant
committee to please take this up.”
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in
his remarks, asked the Chairman of the Committee on Education (Basic and
Secondary), Senator Aliyu Wamakko, to educate the lawmakers on the
examination bodies and their revenues.
The Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad
Lawan, however asked that former registrars be quizzed on why the
revenue of the board was low under their leadership.
He said, “I just want to add something
that will enhance the motion by Senator Dino. If someone was posting
only N500m all those years and another person came in and started
bringing in N5bn, something was amiss. So, we need to find out what
happened in the past. So, I think the committee should look at why we
were getting N500m and someone is now giving us N5bn.”
Saraki referred the matter to the Senate
Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, directing them to brief
the Senate next week.
He said, “It is a good observation, the
fact that JAMB has now gone up to billions. Before, we were doing
millions. The question is: what happened in the past? Why is the sudden
increase in their revenue? What actions have been taken by those who
were there before to explain this? I think there is the need for us to
not just sweep this under the carpet.”
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