THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has returned N3.5 billion to the Federation Account from the excess generated from its operations during the conduct of 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
The board said it had earlier returned N3.5b to the government following the sales of ePINs to UTME candidates, bringing the total remittances this year by the board to N7 billion.
The board pledged to make further remittance to the government as soon as its operations are concluded and proper audit of its books done.
JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, disclosed these in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Last year, the board returned N5 billion to the government coffers but was later asked to keep N2 billion to enhance its operations by the government.
According to the statement, the remittances were in line with the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede’s avowed commitment to remit wholly, excess funds generated from its operations to the federal government.
It added that the board was able to return the excess to the government coffers despite reduction in the cost of ePIN sold to candidates from N5000 to N3, 500 as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari last year.
Over 1.9 million candidates wrote this year’s examination, making it the highest in the history of the board so far.
It reads: “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has made an interim remittance of N3.5b to the Federal Government consolidated account for the 2020 expected remittance in line with Prof. Is-haq Oloyede’s avowed commitment to remit wholly, excess funds generated from its operations to the federal government.
“It had earlier made the payment of over N3.5b to candidates by way of reduction of N1,500 from the cost of each ePIN sold to each candidates as graciously directed by Mr President totaling over N3.5b bringing the total remittances this year to over N7b with the assurance to remit more as soon as its operations are concluded and proper audit of its books done.”
The statement explained that it’s the intension of the board to return to government coffers excess funds made from its operations.
“From the outset, it had been the intention of the present leadership of the board to return to federal coffers, whatever is left unutilised from its operational imperatives.
“The immediate benefit of the move manifested in the reduction by President Muhammadu Buhari of the UTME Registration fee payable by candidates from N5000 to N3500 which entails the transfer of over N3b to candidates and guardians annually via the reduction in the cost of application documents.
“Before the reduction in the cost of application ePINs, the board had remitted over N7b in 2017 and replicated same in subsequent years until the gracious action by the Buhari administration’s unprecedented decision to give back to candidates a percentage of the cost of registration.
“To sustain the gesture, the board will continue to come up with innovations on ways to ensure that candidates are provided with world-class services at modest cost as obtained anywhere in the world,” the statement added.