By Dayo Adesulu

STAKEHOLDERS in the education sector have picked holes in the claims by the JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, over remittances to the Federal Government coffers by the agency.

Candidates

JAMB had in 2017 and 2018 remitted N7.8 billion and N7.8 billion respectively to the Federal Government. Its spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin said during a telephone interview that JAMB was not a revenue-generating board, stressing, “We are not generating revenue, we have mandate and assignment and whatever that is left should be returned to the Federal Government coffers.”

He said that certain services rendered to JAMB that cost billions of Naira under Prof. Dibu Ojerinde (immediate past JAMB Registrar who left in 2016) now cost JAMB N100 million, but added that he would not like to apportion blame as he did not want to speak for Dibu and Oloyede.

However, an impeccable source who spoke on condition of anonimity, commended Oloyede but added that he (Oloyede) muddled up everything when he claimed that since establishment of JAMB, only the sum of N54 million has been remitted to government coffers.

The source, who is a staff of the board said that before JAMB examination was computerized, the agency at inception, spent huge amount of money on conducting the examinations manually, particularly on printing of brochures, syllabuses and infrastructure.

He said: “Before 2012 when Dibu Ojerinde introduced the Computer-Based Test, CBT, every year, hundreds of thousands of students sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to gain entrance into Nigerian universities. The large number of candidates coupled with other logistics, often made conducting the exams quite a headache for the examination officials and the candidates.

“Sometimes, problems were experienced in the areas of insufficient materials which often led to missing scripts or missing results. It was gathered that during the tenure of Professor Bello Ahmad Salim, JAMB conducted Pencil and Paper Test, PPT, as it was yet to introduce the CBT. From 1996 to 2006, between 1.6 and two million candidates wrote the JAMB test annually. For each form, JAMB printed syllabus of about 175 pages, brochure of 225 pages, and printed question papers locally.

“Supervisors from various universities and other tertiary institutions did yearly review of the syllabuses and brochures and were paid. Invigilators and supervisors from universities that served as co-ordinators, including secondary school teachers, were paid allowances for conducting PPT examinations. Other expenses associated with the PPT which the agency incurred between 1996 and 2006 included purchase of vehicles used for distribution of questions and answer sheets nationwide. Often times, the expenses also included payment of Police security escorts and candidates abroad that sat for the examinations in the UK, Cameroon and Ghana.

“JAMB bought trucks and pick up vans for distribution and conduct of its examinations, including management staff’s official vehicles. During the period under review, JAMB built up its headquarters office and facilities in Bwari, acquired and paid for more than 20 zonal offices in the 36 states of the federation. JAMB also built more than 12 duplexes as directors’ quarters in Apo, Abuja.

Payment of salaries

“Senior staff quarters in Nyanya with over 40 four-bedroom flats, over 60 flats for junior staff in Bwari and Kubwa, six flats in Maitama, Abuja, were all bought, even as it assisted in the payment of salaries because what was collected from the Federal Government was inadequate to meet staff salaries and running cost.

“By JAMB Act, it is not stipulated anywhere that JAMB would refund money from sales of forms to federal coffers. Lately, JAMB decided to computerize everything- all examinations both brochures, syllabuses, question papers and answer sheets online, which have helped to cut cost in no small measure as well as reduce running and administrative costs and expenses.

“It must be noted also that the increase in JAMB form price to N5,000 also added to boost the revenue generation. The present JAMB registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede should be asked if he has bought any vehicle, constructed any building, purchased any computer hardwares, built any zonal office or state offices since he assumed office.”

While almost everything about the examination has been computerized and done online, the cost of JAMB form over the years has increased  from N650 to N2,000 and presently sold for N5,000.