Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North in the Senate, has raised concerns over the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) spending for the year 2024.
During JAMB’s 2025 budget defense before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance, Oshiomhole questioned the agency’s spending, particularly the N850 million allocated for security, cleaning, and fumigation. He also criticized JAMB for spending N1.1 billion on meals and refreshments.
He remarked “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.”
He further questioned “You also spent N850m on security, cleaning and fumigation in 2024. What did you fumigate? Is it mosquitoes that took all this money?” Oshiomhole also criticized JAMB for spending N600 million on local travel.
In response, JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede explained that the agency had remitted N4 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2024 while receiving a grant of N6 billion from the Federal Government.
This prompted Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Abiodun Faleke, to question why a revenue-generating and self-sustaining agency should rely on federal allocations: “You remitted N4bn and got N6bn from the Federal Government. Why not keep the N4bn and we stop the government from funding JAMB?”
The lawmakers hinted at the possibility of removing JAMB’s allocation in subsequent budgets unless convincing justifications for its continued reliance on government funding are provided.