Senator Oshiomhole Questions JAMB's Expenditures During Budget Defense

Senator Oshiomhole Questions JAMB's Expenditures During Budget Defense

During a budget defense session on Monday, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC/Edo North) raised significant concerns regarding the expenditures of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for the year 2024.

 The session took place before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance, where Oshiomhole scrutinized JAMB's financial practices.

Highlighting specific figures, Oshiomhole questioned JAMB's registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, about the staggering N850 million spent on security, cleaning, and fumigation. He remarked, "You spent N1.1 billion 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."

The senator further probed the necessity of the N850 million allocated for security and cleaning, sarcastically asking, "What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?" Oshiomhole also criticized JAMB for its N600 million expenditure on local travel.

In defense, Prof. Oloyede explained that JAMB remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2024 and received a grant of N6 billion from the Federal Government. This prompted Abiodun Faleke, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, to question why a revenue-generating agency like JAMB should depend on federal allocations: "You remitted N4 billion and got N6 billion from the Federal Government. Why not keep the N4 billion and we stop the government from funding JAMB?