JAMB collects over N10b budgets from FG, earns N31b in 5 years, remits N15m

*Oloyede’s remittance of N5b, N3b set for remittance an eye opener

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, a media investigation has 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 during the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan before the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who brought the former Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin and Secretary-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Professor Is-haq Oloyede on board as Registrar and Chief Executive of the Board.

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 Finance Kemi Adeosun, who informed journalists about the probe, said this year, JAMB under the sitting Registrar Professor Oloyede 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.

Media investigations also revealed 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 Ishaq Oloyede, who was appointed on August 1, 2016, nor his predecessor, Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde, has commented on the development.

However, a senior official working with the board said billions of naira was generated since the introduction computer-based tests (CBT) in 2015, but that 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 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

It was further 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 Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano) threw the weight of the Senate behind the probe.

Senator Barau speaking to a print medium 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.