By Iyke Obi Durumba
The Nigerian Senate on Monday commended the JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede for the efficient administration of the examinations body. Senators at the budget defence of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board took turns to shower praises on the Registrar for consistently declaring and turning over surplus funds to the Federation Account.
Speaking at the session, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education Sen. Akon Eyakenyi (Akwa Ibom South) commended the Registrar for setting the pace for other agencies. “The standard you are setting is appreciated. We will put it on record and forward to appropriate authority to show what you’re doing. We’re comfortable with the presentation you’ve done,” she enthused.
Other committee members like Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe representing Kwara Central commended the JAMB Registrar for the high standards achieved in JAMB administration noting that the Registrar had a history of excellence from his days as VC of the University of Ilorin.
Senators noted that JAMB has declared and turned over 40% of its revenue, to the federal coffers, well above the 25% threshold set by the Federal Government. They were pleased that JAMB set an example where some agencies would declare 2 or 3% of their IGR.
On his part, Sen. Kashim Shettima (Borno Central), asked JAMB to expand its CSR budget. He said, “A lot of intellectuals pontificate from the ivory towers but when given platform they fail abysmally. Thank you so much, we’re proud of you but you failed in CSR. Please look into your CSR budget.”
The Registrar said JAMB remitted a total of N3.9bn to the Federation Account this year. He also projected an operating surplus of N4.2bn for 2021 with N6.7bn expected from the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME.
Prof Oloyede also revealed that the JAMB intends to take more interest in the matriculation part of its mandate in addition to the admissions. He expressed worry that 20% of those admitted to universities are not those matriculated. “There is a lot of impersonation,” he alleged.
Justifying an item of N1.7bn for examination centers in the budget, Oloyede disclosed that “60% of the 700 CBT centers are private, so we pay them. We pay them N600/candidate/exam. We also pay the public CBTs,” he revealed. He said JAMB was also ramping up its IT capacity.
Speaking to journalists, Prof Oloyede said the praise from the Senate is an encouragement to do better. He said, “The National Assembly through the Committee has encouraged my colleagues who are doing the work. It’s not for me, I’m just one person out of two thousand or more, so I believe my colleagues and I are encouraged by the compliments of the committee and will continue to do better.”
He attributed the success at JAMB to simply doing what is expected of any responsible Nigerian.
