By Miracle Ogunde
In order to ensure accountability and transparency, the House of Representatives has set up a committee to look into disparity in the remittances of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, into the treasuries of the Federal Government.
The move for the probe followed the non-reconciliation discovered in the records of the examination body and the account of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF.
While appearing before the House Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies on Wednesday, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, stated that the examination body started remitting revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund less than a year after he assumed office.
Oloyede said the committee that in 2017, JAMB remitted the sum of N7.8bn and followed it up with N5.2bn, N3.68bn, N3.82bn, N3.5bn and N3.1bn in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.
He further informed the lawmakers that JAMB, under his stewardship, generated internal revenue of N13.33bn, N11.35bn, N9.74bn and N12.62bn in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.
A discrepancy of N11m was established with the submission of Mrs Lucy Anom, who represented the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, prompting the Chairman of the Committee, Afoji Obuku, to call for a sub-committee to look into the alleged differences and report back to the Committee on Basic Education.
JAMB, however, kicked against the Federal Government’s automated deduction of funds accruing to it from the registration fees paid by candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Oloyede maintained that the practice was significantly reducing its revenue contribution to the CRF.
“We tell the government not to pay us salaries. We generate our own funds but this auto-deduction is affecting our revenue for capital projects,” he said.
A member of the committee, Oyedeji Oyeshina, pointed out that JAMB’s revenue generation and remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation had reduced since 2019.
But speaking, Oloyede explained that from the schedule of Internally Generated Revenue, of the board from 2019 to 2022, there was a significant reduction in remittances of revenue to the coffers of the Federal Government due to a reduction of examination fees for UTME candidates.
He said the examination fee was reduced in 2019 from N5,000 to N3500, adding that the Federal Government had kicked off automated deduction of the internal revenue remittances after the reduction of the examination fee was approved and effected by the board.
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