The discovery that the Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Ishaq Oloyede spent a whopping sum of N1.1 billion for meals and another staggering sum of N850 million in the purchase of mosquito insecticides stoke anger among Senate Committee members.
The fund for insecticides covers expenses for security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024, but JAMB remitted just N4 billion in revenue and receiving N6 billion from the allocation of last year.
The sum spent on feeding alone is more than 25% of the revenue the board remitted to the Federal Government account.
These details were revealed during a presentation by Ishaq Oloyede, the JAMB Registrar, before the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on revenue projections for 2025.
The committee, led by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), grilled the board over its expenditures with concerns about low revenue remittance by agencies in the 2024 fiscal year
Adams Oshiomhole, representing the Edo North senatorial district, criticised JAMB’s feeding expenditure during the session.
“Are you being freely fed by the government? This money comes from poor students, many of whom are orphans,” the lawmaker said.
Oshiomhole also raised questions about the N850 million allocated for security, cleaning and fumigation, and the N600 million spent on local travel.
“What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?” Oshiomhole asked.
Lawmakers further scrutinised the N6.5 billion spent on local training and N1 billion allocated to a staff housing scheme. They demanded detailed breakdowns from the board.
James Faleke, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, questioned the board’s reliance on Federal Government funding despite being a self-sustaining agency.
“You remitted N4 billion and received N6 billion from the Federal Government. Why not keep the N4 billion and stop the government from funding JAMB?” he asked.
Meanwhile, the agency is proposed to receive N6.6 billion in 2025 to fund personnel costs according to the budget proposal presented by the Federal Executive Council.
