The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has ruled out exploitation in the course of its revenue generation.
Oloyede said contrary to the positions of critics who argued that JAMB should not generate funds for the government, the charges are minimal compared with similar charges within and outside Nigeria.
He said the board had remitted over N50bn to the Federal Government in the last six years.
Oloyede spoke on Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while delivering a public lecture as part of the 13th Gbagura Day celebration.
In the lecture titled “The imperative of JAMB in tertiary education in Nigeria,” he identified examination malpractice, admission outside the central admission processing system, unsuitable CBT centres, erratic power supply and lack of uniform calendar by institutions as some of the challenges confronting the board.
He said the N50bn surplus was recorded under his watch due to measures put in place on “cost control, prevention of financial leakages and minimisation of financial corruption.”
Oloyede said the surplus funds include over N29bn directly returned into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, N11bn disbursed on capital projects and savings of about N6bn among others.
He said the “humongous returns” were in contrast to about N52m – which was the cumulative return of the previous 40 years of the board.
He said “The recent strategic and structural innovations in JAMB have resulted in significant impacts on the Board in areas such as cost control, prevention of financial leakages and minimisation of financial corruption. This has changed the narratives such that JAMB now posts humongous returns to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“The Board also expanded internal capacities for its operations with direct execution of processes and procedures. Currently, over N50bn has been recorded as a surplus in the past six years. Over N29bn of this has been returned directly to the CRF. About N11bn disbursed on capital projects, Corporate Social Responsibility, savings (about N6bn) and others in contrast to about N52m that had been the cumulative return of the previous 40 years.”
In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Rahmon Bello, said the drive is to develop Gbagura land through education informed the lecture.
