By Felix Khanoba
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has so far remitted N7 billion from the conduct of the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The Board said N3.5billion to the money was remited into the Federal Government consolidated account while the balance of N3.5billion was from the earlier reduction of N1,500 from the cost of ePIN sold to candidates as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement made available to The AUTHORITY on Sunday by JAMB’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said the Board is expected to remit more funds into the government’s coffers as soon as all operations and necessary audits are completed.
The statement read:
“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 it operations are concluded and proper audit of its books done.
“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 the 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.”
