JAMB: Sagay committee seeks clarification on N36m snake-swallow scandal

THE Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has lauded the Register and Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, for what it described as “geometric increase” in remittance to the Federal Government coffers.

JAMB had remitted about N7.8 billion in 2017 to the Federal government.

The Committee has, however, sought clarification on the alleged N36 million cash of the Board said to be swallowed by a snake that had been in the media.

Chairman of PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay, who led other members of the Committee to the headquarters of JAMB on Wednesday, said he was also interested in knowing other challenges being faced by the Board that requires the Committee assistance.

JAMB had earlier explained that the fraud was committed before the coming of the current Registrar, adding that the disappearance of the fund was discovered in one of the states when Prof. Oloyede led management had on assumption of duty embarked on a tour of the Board’s state offices to ascertain their actual financial standing and their general operations.

This prompted Oloyede to introduce reforms when he assumed office in 2016 including the recommendation for an end to the use of scratch cards, replacing it with more efficient and effective mode of pin vending.

Prof. Sagay while commending Oloyede for his high level of integrity, said: “We also wish to congratulate you for what I will call the geometric increase in remittance to the Federal government of Nigeria.

“We are not surprised. You have a name that has gone before you and we know that nowhere will you be operating in which there will not be events which will show that you have maintained your outstanding character and integrity.

“We are here basically to learn more about JAMB. What are your problems, what are your challenges and also to offer our help if required in any respect within our competence?

“We are also curious about some other things, for example as I said what challenges do you still have. I remember in some time past, it used to be commonly believed that if you do JAMB examination, a different result would be prepared for you and score high marks and if you go to the university only to underperform.

“We want to know if this problem has been eliminated. Also, we read recently of some members of staff of JAMB at a lower level who accumulated a lot of cash and did not properly account for it, leading them to make very absurd defences, which has created a lot of fun nationwide.

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“We want to know what steps are being taken to ensure that monies realized from your work are now maintained in a guaranteed fashion that people do not have the opportunity to abuse it.

“We also want to know if there are any issues militating against the JAMB system and in what way can we help promote the excellent work that you are doing,” he said.

The JAMB Registrar in his response, before journalists were excused from the meeting, said it was unfortunate that Nigeria has gone down to extent that serious issues were being trivialized, especially the “crazy talk” about the snake swallowing JAMB money.

He insisted that JAMB as an organisation is well positioned and well intended to deliver services excellently, saying, however, that the degeneration in the larger part of the society was also affecting the Board.

Oloyede said the Board under his watch has been working assiduously to maintain the credibility and reliability of its result.

He said the problems might not be 100 per cent addressed but that in the last two years, “we have addressed most of the challenges” he said were not too difficult to resolve as initially envisaged.

Oloyede said: “Since I come here, nobody has called me to do any wrong thing. I have never seen anybody who will call me and say, somebody has done what is wrong don’t allow it to go.

“People who have authority over me have been the people who are even calling me to strengthen what I am doing, not trying to survive. Whereas my fear when I came here was that I was not going to stay long because what we used to peddle in the university is that these politicians will be intervening in one’s activities.

“So, I had made up my mind that if they call me to do what I am not supposed to do, I will go. On no occasion, any of my superiors has called me for any such thing. The minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu is more puritanical than me in his worldview and not talk of people higher than him,” he said.

Oloyede, who blamed parents for aiding and abetting examination malpractice, said several arrests were made during the just concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), that confirmed this and that the suspects were handed over to the police for prosecution.

He said the Board took proactive measures and deployed all necessary technology to curb examination malpractice.