Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC/Edo North) raised concerns about the spending of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) during a budget defense session before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance on Monday.
Oshiomhole questioned the agency’s use of funds for security, cleaning, and fumigation, specifically asking for an explanation regarding a significant N850 million expenditure in 2024.
During the session, Oshiomhole addressed JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, asking for a breakdown of the agency’s spending, particularly the N850 million allocated for security, cleaning, and fumigation.
“What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?” Oshiomhole asked, expressing his disbelief over the size of the amount spent on these services.
The senator also raised concerns about other budget items, including a massive N1.1 billion spent on meals and refreshments.
“You spent N1.1bn 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,” Oshiomhole added.
Further questioning the agency’s financial practices, Oshiomhole criticized the N600 million spent on local travel by JAMB officials.
In response, Professor Oloyede defended the spending, highlighting that JAMB had remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2024, while also receiving a N6 billion grant from the federal government.
The chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, also joined the discussion, questioning why JAMB, a self-sustaining agency generating its own revenue, should still rely on federal funding.
“You remitted N4bn and got N6bn from the Federal Government. Why not keep the N4bn and we stop the government from funding JAMB?” Faleke asked.
