By Leshi Adebayo
The Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) has confirmed that it remitted 3.5 billion naira to the Federal Government as part of it operating surplus in 2021.
This was made known in a statement issued and signed by JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol Unit, Mr. Fabian Benjamin.
According to the statement, it was stated that the remittance “is in line with Prof. Is-haq Oloyede’s avowed commitment to prudent management of public resources.”
Reportedly, JAMB, since 2016, began to remit excess funds to the government till date, since the new leadership from the said year.
Also, JAMB revealed that the development led to the reduction in the amount charged for registering examinations, from N5,000 to N3,500.
The statement read in part, “This commitment to probity coupled with the adoption of international best practices make for cost-effective operational processes and attendant savings to yield those humongous remittances to government coffers.”
“This has been the norm rather than the exception in the last six years beginning from 2016 when he (Oloyede) remitted the whopping sum of N7 billion and repeated the same in subsequent years.”
It added, “It is pertinent to note that one of the direct benefits of the sustained remittances by the Prof. Oloyede-led management manifested in the reduction of the cost of the application documents (UTME and DE) by candidates from N5000 to N3500 in 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
“This singular act has ensured the annual transfer of over N3b to the pockets of parents and guardians of candidates as a consequence of the slash in the price of UTME forms.”
On the other hand, after JAMB’s announcement, the coordinator of the Lagos zone of ASUU, Laja Odukoya, during a phone interview with Premium Times on Wednesday, said, “Nigerians must see behind the smokescreen of what is regarded as performance by the examination body, and take it for what is truly called, exploitation.”
Odukoya said, “The question we should ask is, where is the money coming from? And where is it going?”
“The money is equally not going back to the institutions that require it for infrastructural upgrade to make them globally competitive, and as a make-up for the exploited Nigerian students.”
“It should have been pardonable if the money is coming back to the school system but rather, the money is being ploughed back to the government to fund the recklessness and profligacy of the government officials and functionaries.”
“And it is so sad that many Nigerians are praising this conduct of JAMB and tagging it as a brilliant performance.”
“But I think the people need to sit well and look closely behind the smokescreen of this thing called performance. It is mass exploitation in disguise,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, according to Premium Times, JAMB spokesperson, Mr Benjamin refused to give comments on Mr Odukoya’s claims.
