TheCable

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has remitted N7.8 billion to the federal government.

Fabian Benjamin, the board’s head, media and information, disclosed the information to NAN on Sunday in Lagos.

Benjamin said the amount was the surplus generated from the conduct of the board’s 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

“However, government in its magnanimity, graciously directed that we remit about N5.6 billion and use the balance for restructuring of the board’s headquarters to meet up with its international status.

“We, therefore, want to appreciate the governing board of JAMB led by Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe for the tremendous support in ensuring that the current administration’s vision of transparency and accountability as fully embraced by JAMB is sustained.

“The Ndukwe-led board had, within its short period of inauguration, contributed immensely in some ground breaking innovations.

“One of such innovations is the quick remittance of the 2018 surplus. Whatever candidates pay for JAMB’s examination is a trust and must be accounted for.

“The board, though not a revenue generating agency, will continue to be judicious with resources at its disposal,” he said.

Benjamin said cumulatively and technically, the board had remitted a total of N15.6 billion in less than two years.

“The board is thinking of how to ensure that candidates benefitted from the surplus,” he said.

“We are currently looking at a number of ways to enhance the conduct of the examination where candidates will benefit by way of conducive environment in writing the examination.

“We are also looking at putting more mechanism in place that will ensure absolute equity and fairness in the selection of candidates through enhanced technology as currently being done by the Central Admission Process Selection (CAPS).”

Benjamin said the board was set to acquire cutting-edge technology to give candidates the best registration procedure, examination and a more improved selection process.

He said the development was similar to the one that was currently being developed by the CAPS initiative.

Benjamin lauded the efforts of members of staff of the board, as well as other key stakeholders, for their doggedness, commitment and support in ensuring that integrity of the board and its examination was sustained.