From 2017 to 2022, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board remitted N27.2bn to the Federation Account as operational surpluses, Registrar of JAMB, Prof Is-haq Oloyede has said.
The registrar said the board spent N9.7 billion on capital projects within the same period.
He disclosed this at the ongoing 3-day workshop for Public Relations’ staff of the Board at its headquarters in Bwari, Abuja in conjunction with Premium Times Academy with the theme: ‘Media, publicity and public relations In the modern age.’
In a presentation delivered by the Director, Legal Services, Dr Abdul Oyedokun, the registrar said the board remitted N7.8 billion in 2017; N5.2 billion in 2018; N3.76 billion in 2019; N4 billion in 2020; N3.5 billion in 2021 and N3 billion in 2022.
The Registrar said the board has secured the approval of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to establish an A Level data to curb the issuance of fake Advanced (‘A’) level certificates to candidates to enable them secure admission into tertiary institutions.
He said the data bank would ensure the sanctity of the entire admission process.
According to Oloyede, the data bank would ensure all ‘A’ Level results were registered under one platform to bring about standardisation and integrity of the certificates.
Oloyede disclosed that over 47 proprietors of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board Examination (IJMBE) and the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB) have so far been arrested for issuing fake ‘A’ level results.
According to him, the minister approved the establishment of the ‘A’ Level certificates data bank, alongside several other measures to ensure total sanity in its examination processes.
The JAMB chief listed some of the measures to include; deployment of sophisticated biometric technology to curb multiple registration in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
He said: “In the last one year and in the second coming of Professor Oloyede as registrar of JAMB, one of the major assignments we did here was to focus on some the things that are happening in these JUPEB and IJMB.
“During the last exam we called a stakeholders meeting and invited managers of these organs and we asked some questions. We also collaborated with others security services to spread our net across the country to see what is happening and behold more than 47 proprietors of these, and some of their lecturers and teachers, and people conniving with them in perpetrating malpractices were arrested all over the country.
“Arising from that, the Honourable Minister of Education has graciously approved the establishment of A Level data bank. So for example, in a particular university, 90 percent of those who presented their ‘A’ level results for admission were found to be fake.”
Oloyede, who noted the inability of candidates to carry out multiple registrations due to its evolution from an analog entity to a digital entity in terms of registration, said it was the reason behind the current drop in UTME registration.
JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, charged the Board’s Public Relations staff to leverage on the training to do more in the discharge of their duties amid surge in citizen journalism.
He said: “Today’s media has changed the dynamics of influence and put power in the hands of the ordinary people. PROs must now engage in the conversation through various new channels and tools. Hence the need for this workshop which is aimed at building and maintaining the positive image of JAMB in the face of smear campaigns and misrepresentation of the activities of the Board.
“PR officers are often the first contact for individuals or organisations seeking to reach out in an informed way. They address inquiries from the media and other parties as well as track media coverage and promote industry trends.
“As the music changes we must change dance steps or else risk dancing out of tune. Nowadays, the exclusivity enjoyed by mainstream media has come to a halt. Journalistic endeavours by non-professionals, also known as ‘citizen journalism,’ heralded the influx of use-generated contents which seem to compete with contents from the mainstream media in terms of speed, ease, accessibility and availability of use.”
