Olayomi Koiki
Nigeria’s National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance on Monday queried the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over “excessive spendings” on meals, refreshments, mosquito killings and others in 2024.
The committee also threatened to cut off the federal government’s allocation to the higher institution admission management body in the 2025 budget.
JAMB Registrar Prof Ishaq Oloyede had presented the board’s 2025 budget proposal to the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives and said JAMB remitted ₦4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2024 but received a grant of ₦6 billion from the federal government.
But Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) queried JAMB over its spendings and asked the registrar to justify ₦850 million spent on security, cleaning and fumigation last year.
“You spent ₦1.1billion on meals and refreshments. Are you being freely fed by the government? What this means is that you are spending the money you generate from poor students, many of them orphans. You also spent ₦850 million on security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024. What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?,” Oshiomhole queried.
The senator further criticised JAMB for spending ₦600 million on local travels.
Similarly, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, wondered why JAMB, a revenue-generating and self-sustaining agency, should rely on federal allocations.
“You remitted ₦4bn and got ₦6 billion from the federal government. Why not keep the ₦4 billion and we stop the government from funding JAMB?,” Faleke queried.
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