The National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance has threatened to stop the Federal Government’s allocation to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the 2025 budget.
The Committee’s stance was influenced by a presentation from Prof. Ishaq Oloyede where he defended the agency’s 2025 budget proposal before the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, Persecondnews reports.
During his presentation, Oloyede broke down the agency’s 2024 budget performance, revealing that they had remitted N4 billion to the Consolidate Revenue Fund after receiving a N6 billion grant from the Federal Government.
The committee members, including Mr. Abiodun Faleke and Sen. Adams Oshiomhole, expressed strong reservations, questioning the rationale behind a self-funding agency like JAMB to be receiving allocations from the Federal Government.
The Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Falake asked: “You remitted N4 billion and got N6 billion from the Federal Government. Why not keep the N4 billion and we stop the government from funding JAMB?”
On his part, Sen. Oshiomhole queried: “You spent N1.1bn on meals and refreshments. Are you being freely fed by the government? What this means is that you are spending the money you generate from poor students, many of them orphans.
“You also spent N850m on security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024. What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money.”
The former Edo State governor strongly criticized JAMB for its excessive spending, specifically highlighting the N600 million spent on local travels and calling on the Registrar to provide a clear justification for the staggering N6.5 billion allocated for local training.
Contrary to the outcome of today’s sitting, Persecondnews recalls that Prof. Oloyede received accolades in 2022 when he stated that the board had remitted not less than N50 billion to the federal government in the last six years.
He said the money was what was left after expenses incurred in conducting the examination.
According to him, the remittance was made possible by measures put in place to address cost control, prevent financial leakages, and minimize financial corruption.
The Registrar highlighted the remarkable contrast between the board’s recent “humongous returns” and the cumulative return of approximately N52 million from the previous 40 years.
Details later…
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