Lawmakers expresses concern over JAMB’s financial management

By Miracle Ogunde

The financial management of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, has raised concerns among Lawmakers on Monday.

The lawmakers questioned the rationale behind the agency’s remittance of a meager N4bn into the federation account after the government provided it with N6bn funding in 2024.

Daily Post reports that the debate followed a presentation by the JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, before a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, chaired by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), reviewing revenue projections for 2025.

Oloyede explained that while JAMB remitted N4bn into the consolidated revenue fund, the agency received N6 billion from the Federal Government. This generated a rowdy session among members of the committee, which included Abiodun Faleke, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, and Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo), who asked why an agency that had become self-sustaining, like JAMB, was still receiving grants from the government.

“Why does JAMB remit N4 billion and still want to collect N6 billion from the government? Why can’t they retain the N4 billion and make the government stop funding JAMB?” Faleke asked, further arguing that such funds were sourced from poor students, most of whom are orphans.

He further questioned the rationale behind JAMB’s N850 million expenses on security, cleaning, and fumigation, and another N600 million on local travels, asking for greater accountability in respect of these expenditures.

The two most criticised were the N6.5 billion proposed for local training and N1 billion meant for a staff housing scheme. He called on Senator Oshiomhole to give further breakdowns for such expenditures.

Nationally, the Senate had also frowned upon what they described as “poor” remittances by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government in 2024 with a wide difference between what was collected and the amount remitted into the federation account.

Senator Sani Musa, Chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, cited the anomaly this has caused: “It erodes the capacity of government to provide good roads, bridges, and social amenities, and equally raises suspicion of inefficiency, mismanagement, and possible leakages of revenues.