The House of Representatives has initiated an inquiry into the discrepancies found in the remittances of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to the Federal Government. The decision to establish a committee comes in light of non-reconciliation in the financial records of JAMB and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
During the appearance before the House Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies, JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, reported that the examination body began remitting revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund less than a year after he assumed office. He detailed remittances of N7.8bn in 2017, followed by N5.2bn, N3.68bn, N3.82bn, N3.5bn, and N3.1bn in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively.
However, a discrepancy of N11m was identified in the submission from Mrs. Lucy Anom, representing the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. This led Committee Chairman Afoji Obuku to propose the formation of a sub-committee to investigate the alleged differences and report back to the Committee on Basic Education.
Simultaneously, JAMB expressed its objection to the automated deduction of funds from the registration fees collected from candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Prof Oloyede argued that this practice was significantly diminishing JAMB’s revenue contribution to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
Despite a member of the committee, Oyedeji Oyeshina, highlighting a reduction in JAMB’s revenue generation and remittances to the CRF since 2019, Oloyede clarified that the reduction was due to a decrease in examination fees for UTME candidates. He explained that the examination fee was reduced from N5,000 to N3,500 in 2019, resulting in a drop in revenue. Additionally, the Federal Government initiated automated deductions after approving and implementing the reduction in examination fees.
