JAMB is broke, can't conduct UTME – Registrar

JAMB REGISTRAR

The registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede has said the agency cannot afford the cost of conducting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).


Oloyede said this during a visit by a delegation of the senate committee on tertiary institutions and Tertiary Education Trust fund (TETFund) to his office on Wednesday.

He said: “The major challenge facing the board has to do with funding; we take N5,000 from each candidate; we do not even have the money to conduct the examination.

“Rather, we call on third party to do some of the things and they only give some commission to JAMB, because we do not have enough money to invest.

“Conduct of examination across the country requires intensive human participation; you will recruit invigilators and monitors and then it costs so much money to set exam questions.

“The capital allocation is N1 billion; the release so far is N45. 57million; the overhead cost is N50 million allocated, but N24.9 million is what we have received so far.

“The N24.9 million given is not sufficient to pay electricity bills because all the 36 states and zonal offices depend on what comes from headquarters for their funding,” Oloyede explained.