THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) says it has made an interim remittance of N3.5billion to the Federal Government consolidated account for the 2020 expected remittance.
A statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by Fabian Benjamin, Head of Media at JAMB explained that the remittance was in line with Professor Is-haq Oloyede’s avowed commitment to remit wholly, excess funds generated from its operations to the Federal Government.
The remittance was part of the money realised by the examination body from the sales of form for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), direct entry and all forms payment related to the examination.
Benjamin said the Board had earlier made the payment of over N3.5billion to candidates by way of reduction of N1,500 from the cost of each ePIN sold to each candidates as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, totaling over N3.5billion and bringing the total remittances this year to over N7billion with the assurance to remit more as soon as its operations are concluded and proper audit of its books done.
Benjamin explained that it has 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 N3billion to candidates and guardians annually via the reduction in the cost of application documents,” he said.
“Before the reduction in the cost of application EPINs, the Board had remitted over N7billion 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.”
He further stated that the Board would 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.
It would be recalled that the total amount the JAMB remitted to the Federal Government coffers between 2010 and 2016 was just N 50,752,544.