Questions arise over JAMB’s remittance; NANS praises board, ask Buhari to spread searchlight

As the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) continues to receive praise over its unprecedented income this year, a fly in the bottle of perfume is questioning its remittances as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) continues in its applause.
NANS on Sunday commended JAMB under the leadership of Prof Ishaq Oloyede for the remittance of N5 billion to the coffers of the Federal Government within a short time that he took over as Registrar/Chief Executive.
The organisation also commended the Federal Government for approving probe of the former administration of JAMB and NIMASA and urged government to extend the probe to other agencies.
However, a message circulating at the Board offices in Bwari, which source is being investigated, has sent tongues wagging. It reads:
“…JAMB -N3b yearly for 8year s
“JAMB -N8b in 8 months (2017)
“Let me throw a small light on this: when Prof Dibu Ojerinde was leaving office, he left behind N6.7 billion in the Board’s TSA account and owed contractors less than N400 million. This was after building JAMB-owned CBT centres. Suppose Oloyede paid the contractors handed over to him by his predecessor, he would still have over N6.3 billion left. He sold 1.7 million forms at N5,500 and generated close to N10 billion.
“Apart from this, the regularization which was being done for N4,600 during Ojerinde’s tenure is now being done for N10,000. Change of institutions and courses each costs N2,500 which was N2,500 flat during Ojerinde’s tenure. Putting all these together, Oloyede has generated over N15 billion apart from the N6.3 billion brought forward from Ojerinde’s tenure.
“Now, Oloyede should be at crossroads because side by side investigating Ojerinde, Oloyede and JAMB are also being investigated.
“Clearly, Oloyede has not remitted a kobo out of the money he made over the 14 months he had spent in office. What he did was to cleverly steal the show off Ojerinde by remitting part of what Dibu left behind. Let’s keep our fingers crossed as events unfold.
“WHO IS FOOLING WHO?”
Nevertheless, the President of NANS, Chinonso Obasi, in a statement issued in Abuja said, the remittance of N5 billion from a non-focal revenue generating agency of government is a clear indication of transparency in the administration and management of government business.
He described the development as highly commendable and called on all heads of federal government agencies and parastatals to emulate the registrar of JAMB.
Obasi lamented the impunity with which corrupt practices were previously perpetuated in JAMB and many others and call on President Muhammadu Buhari to beam his eagle eyes on all other agencies of the Federal Government to ensure that all loopholes that facilitate and encourages corrupt practices are prevented and blocked.
He described corruption as evil and the worst thing that can happen to a country in dire need of financial resources for development and wondered why any right thinking personal would choose to abuse public trust bestowed on him by engaging in corrupt practices, stealing and diverting public funds for personal use which otherwise would have been used to invest in addressing other development challenges.
Obasi called on Nigerians occupying public offices to endeavor to be responsible and patriotic in the management of government businesses for the common good of all.
According to him, part of ongoing reform is to seek the inclusion and mainstreaming of NANS so the students body could actively participate in campaigning against the scourge of corruption so that available resources can be judiciously applied to areas of critical needs of national development.
He noted that part of the challenge in the successful implementation of government policies is the lack of effective communication and strategic stakeholders engagement.
Obasi stated that NANS is making plans to gaps by organizing a Nigerian Students Leadership Summit to provide opportunity for interaction between the students and strategic heads of Federal Government agencies and parastatals to enable student leaders understand the critical issues and build leadership capacity for effective representation and leadership at the Students level.