By Godfrey AKON
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation, JAMB, has remitted N2 billion to the Federal Government as its interim surplus for the 2023 operating year.
The board, in a statement by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said more would be remitted as its operations for the years are completed.
The statement attributed the payment to effective and prudent management of resources which is now responsible for over N55 billion remittances to the federation account since Prof Is-haq Oleyede assumed office as Registrar.
According to JAMB, this is in furtherance of the pledge by Oloyede-led management, on assumption of duty, that it would leverage on technology and discipline to manage the affairs of the board.
“Since assuming office the Prof. Is-haq Oloyede-led management has remitted over N55billion to the Federal Government coffers. This is far above the less than the N60million remitted by the Board in the 38 years of the existence of the Board prior to the appointment of Prof. Oloyede.
“On assumption of office of the current Registrar, he had come up with a policy which holds that whatever would be done, must be on the table. This has changed the narratives such that JAMB now posts humongous returns to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
“These returns were bolstered by the Board’s expanded internal capacities for its operations achieved through direct execution of its processes and procedures, which instantly resulted in, for instance, a savings of N1.2billion being paid annually to a service provider and a downward review of the N1.2billion being annually paid to another to about N400million with the same old service provider. This in addition to the recovery of over N1.2billion in both cash and estates in choice areas of Abuja, in 2016.
“It was these steps and many others, which had ensured that a Board, which had remitted cumulatively in its 40 years of existence about N55 million to the national treasury, rendered N7.8billion in the first year of the assumption of office of Prof. Oloyede and has since contributed over N27billion directly into the national treasury,” the statement said.
The board further clarified that the remitted amount is without prejudice to the 30 per cent reduction in its application fee which equals N10.8billion in 4 years since the reduction, Capital Fund which equals N11 billion including N6billion, which is yet to be committed, Annual Awards/Grants to Tertiary Institutions for Capital Projects which equals N1billion and Special Staff Welfare Scheme which is N2billion.
It said this computation would aggregate the cumulative surplus to about N54billion over the last six years.
Meanwhile, the oard has expressed its commitment to press ahead with its efforts to reposition the conduct of public examinations in Nigeria.
At the end of its management committee meeting held to appraise the recent crisis witnessed in the conduct of the 2023 Direct Entry registration, the board said it was the result of the implementation of some of its newly-adopted processes aimed at curbing infractions in the admission value chain given our national peculiarities.
“Another major policy change also to be implemented by the Board to holistically address all loopholes giving rise to abuses in the Direct Entry admission processes is that all DE candidates, which comprise those seeking to be in Year Two in the universities, would henceforth be required to sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME along with other candidates for them to justify the possession of their A’level certificates.
“This policy is to be situated within the ambit of the Board’s relentless efforts aimed at enhancing the growth of the nation’s education sector as it would promote transparency, accountability and good governance. It also underscores the Board’s commitment and determination towards changing the negative narrative of A’level admissions into higher institutions in Nigeria,” JAMB said.