The National Assembly, through its Joint Committee on Finance, has cleared the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of any financial impropriety, which it had previously been accused of. This decision follows a review of the examination body’s financial activities, ultimately clearing JAMB of the allegations.
The Committee had on Monday during the budget defence session which the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, attended, alleged that the examination body spent N1.1 billion on meals and N850 million on fumigation, which according to it, were outrageous.
The JAMB Registrar made efforts to explain that he was being misrepresented but was prevented from doing so.
The Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Sani Musa, in a statement said Oloyede and JAMB were wrongly accused of reckless spendings.
The statement further reads: “For the purpose of clarity, the comprehensive report provided by JAMB indicates that the line items mentioned during Monday’s hearing on revenue do not suggest any mismanagement or misuse of the Board’s funds.
“On the contrary, the report highlights the responsible and prudent use of resources under the leadership of the Registrar. The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, deserves commendation for demonstrating financial discipline and accountability in managing the Board’s resources effectively. This level of stewardship serves as a model for public institutions across the nation”.
Earlier, Oloyede has expressed concern over the alleged misrepresentation of figures in the 2025 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance on Monday.
Fielding questions from newsmen on the sidelines of an event in Abuja, Oloyede dismissed reports making the rounds that the Board spent huge amounts on fumigation, meals, among other items in 2024, describing them as misrepresentations.
Oloyede stated that the Board’s total expenditure for fumigation across all states in 2024 was less than N1 million.
“I want to say emphatically, without any iota of doubt, that I never presented any budget performance of 2024 before the National Assembly yesterday. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding.
“I did not talk about 2024 budget performance and we did not spend any humongous money in 2024. Indeed, what we spent on fumigation in the whole state of the Federation, all offices in 2024, was not up to N1 million. What we budgeted for 2025 for fumigation is less than N2 million,” he clarified.
Oloyede explained that the misunderstanding arose because the detailed breakdown of the budget proposal was not fully reviewed during the presentation.
“On the succeeding page, we provided the breakdown with asterisks to call attention to it, but we did not go and read the other pages where we analysed what we were doing,” he noted.
On the N6.5 billion allegedly spent on training in 2024, Oloyede said the money was just a proposal for 2025 that cut across various budget lines, including monitoring of examination, admission expenses, e-facilities payment, and awards for best higher education institutions, among others.
“We have 10,500 examiners and invigilators going to conduct both the mock and the UTME. Some of them stay for 10 days. I do not determine their DTA. It’s the government that determines the DTA to be paid to them. So what offense have I committed by putting their claims together?” he queried.
On the alleged huge amount spent on meals, Oloyede said: “Everybody knows that at the JAMB headquarters, we provide one lunch for those in the headquarters. And we provide this lunch for them, partly because we don’t want our system to be destroyed.
“Apart from the fact that there are security reasons for not allowing people to go in and come out, you also know that we have some ICT infrastructure that will be damaged if we allow people to bring food and remnants.
“So we created the canteen and we provide for them; others have become agitated. So, we are now saying for 2025, we should provide for N2,300. The N2,300 times 22 days, times 12 months, what will it be, if not over N1 billion? “
Speaking on the clamour for a downward review of UTME fee instead of the Board remitting money to federal coffers, Oloyede said: “I think to the best of my knowledge I have done what I’m supposed to do. We have reduced it from N5,000 to N3,500.
“This is the least paid anywhere in the world for any admission unless you want it to be given free. And we can assure you, if we are given a fair opportunity to explain, Nigerians will know that I, Ishaq Oloyede would not misappropriate or misuse money, ” he said.
Oloyode said the figure that was also misrepresented was the amount proposed for cleaners, security, among others.
“In all the States of the federation, we have 580 security men and cleaners. Where would their salaries come from? “he asked, adding that the increase in the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 would also lead to an increase in their budgetary provision.
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